Harry Potter and the Daughter of the Dark Lord
by bellalestrange2003
Summary: It's Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts. Harry, desperate to get back to Ron and Hermione after what seems like a very long summer, finds out something the Order has been trying to keep secret--Voldemort has a daughter...
1. The Daughter of Lord Voldmort

Harry Potter  
And  
The Daughter of the Dark Lord  
  
By: Katie Vaughan  
  
Theme By: J. K. Rowling  
  
Part One:  
  
The Daughter of Lord Voldemort  
  
**Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters, settings, and essence belongs to JKR**  
  
Lord Voldemort was sitting on his chair in a slightly angered mood.  
  
"What do you mean, Wormtail?"  
  
Wormtail was spluttering on the ground, next to him Bellatrix Lestrange who was looking terrified.  
  
"I mean sir, that Alice has come out of hiding... P-please master, we don't know how she managed it, we had Macnair placed as her guardian!" Wormtail sobbed trying to crawl to the hems of his master's robes.  
  
"She was there one moment master! And then she was gone! Please, have mercy master!" Bellatrix spluttered looking equally as terrified as Wormtail.  
  
Voldemort looked from one to the other. "My two most faithful servants have yet again failed me. I do not like failure," he said looking as though he was filled with rage. He let a moment pass to fill his Death Eaters with more fear.  
  
"Please, master, we could not control the girl! She escaped, please," Wormtail gasped as though he were pleading for his life.  
  
"We deserve to be punished master," Bellatrix said letting go of her master's robes. She kneeled expectantly as though to die a soldier's death, brave and honored.  
  
"Crucio! " Voldemort screamed at Bella. Bella shrieked horribly and collapsed onto the ground twitching. After a couple of seconds, Bella stopped, and came around looking as pale as a ghost and sweating uncontrollably.  
  
"Thank you master, I deserve it," she said and a wide grin spread across her sunken face as though she was just been granted a wish.  
  
"As for you Wormtail..." Voldemort hissed at the wriggling clump on the floor.  
  
"M-m-master!" he spluttered, tears streaming down his face. "I d-deserve it t-too," he gasped. He looked up horrified as Voldemort raised his wand, and looking bored he muttered, "Avada Kedavra". Wormtail was not expecting this and his eyes widened in horror as a jet of green light him his square on the head. He fell to the floor instantly.  
  
"B-b-but master," Bella said, transfixed on Wormtail's body. "What about Alice?"  
  
"I have no doubt in my mind that she did not escape without help..." Voldemort said slowly, and rather calmly.  
  
"She was... s-s-stolen, master?" Bella asked now scrambling across the floor to get closer. "By who?"  
  
"Dumbledore," Voldemort hissed.  
  
*******  
  
Harry stirred in his sleep and suddenly awoke. "Lupin!" he whispered at his empty room. "LUPIN!!"  
  
He heard something move in the empty chair near his dresser. He clambered out of bed and sprinted to the chair and shook it vigorously.  
  
"Wha? What is it?" came a voice in the chair.  
  
Harry grabbed at the chair and pulled off an Invisibility Cloak and a wizard emerged from under it looking extremely tired.  
  
"Lupin! It's Voldemort!" Harry hissed as load as he could, if he woke Uncle Vernon up...  
  
Lupin snapped awake and looked around wildly, as though expecting to see Voldemort in front of him.  
  
"WHAT? Harry where?" he shouted.  
  
"Ssh!" Harry said trying to shut him up. It surprised Harry that he was almost as afraid of Uncle Vernon as he was with Voldemort. Now that he HAD to stay with the Dursley's (under Dumbledore's orders was Harry never to leave the house where he could be protected) he couldn't say or do anything concerning HIS kind. Little did the Dursley's know, however, was that Harry had someone with him every day of the week, and each week was a different member from the Order of the Phoenix.  
  
"Harry! What IS it?" Lupin said, lowering his voice a couple of notches, a confused and slightly sick look painted on his face.  
  
"I had a dream..." Harry started nervously wondering how he should tell Lupin this.  
  
Lupin looked relieved and slumped back into his chair and then looked up at Harry. "Another one Harry?"  
  
"This one is important!" Harry stressed. Why didn't he care? Lupin was supposed to keep him safe.  
  
"Alright Harry, is it about this 'Alice' person again?" Lupin asked.  
  
"YES!" Harry said urgently. "She's escaped! A-and Voldemort, he killed Wormtail and he's going after Dumbledore!"  
  
Lupin, in mid-yawn, paused. His face was full of glee. When he noticed Harry saw his face, he quickly frowned as if death dreams were of little or no importance.  
  
"Harry, calm yourself. Alice, whoever that is, is alright, got me? It's probably Voldemort trying to lure you out again," Lupin explained slowly as if Harry was 5.  
  
"This one's REAL!" Harry said. He wanted to shake Lupin and make him see that there was danger amidst.  
  
"Go to sleep Harry," Lupin mumbled grabbing the cloak from Harry's hand and throwing it over himself.  
  
Harry stood open-mouthed. He was not making anything up! This dream was real... it had to be! He could feel it!  
  
He walked to his bed and fell back asleep.  
  
*******  
  
Harry woke again in the morning, his room flooded in gold sunshine from the dawn. He heard a scratching noise and saw Hedwig at his window, trying to get in. Harry crossed the room and passed the chair where Lupin sat to his window and he let Hedwig soar in and land on his bed. There was a letter tied to his leg and Harry seized it at once.  
  
Harry,  
  
How are you? I hope you're doing well. Hermione and I have some GREAT news to tell you. But, unfortunately, we can't. You know... the whole letters thing. But I have a feeling you'll hear about everything soon.  
  
Thinking of you,  
  
Ron and Hermione  
  
Harry tossed the letter carelessly to a pile at the side of his bed.  
  
He paced around the room and then suddenly looked suspiciously at Lupin's chair. He walked over and, taking a wild guess at where his arm was, Harry poked Lupin.  
  
"Ow, what the-? Harry that was my face!" Lupin growled.  
  
"Sorry," Harry mumbled listening as Lupin yawned and stretched and began walking around.  
  
"Where's Dumbledore?" Harry suddenly demanded.  
  
"You asked me that yesterday," Lupin said mischievously, and Harry was surprised to find that the voice came from behind him.  
  
"Just tell me," Harry pleaded.  
  
"I will tell you again that he is off to try and get people on our side," Lupin muttered.  
  
"People or creatures?" Harry asked interestedly, staring stupidly at the spot where Lupin spoke.  
  
"Oh all sorts. Mer-people, vampires... werewolves," he said and Harry could tell he was grinning. "I'm not the only one you know," Lupin said staring at Harry's expression of shock.  
  
"Well, I know that but..." Harry started. "Take off that CLOAK!" he screamed because he could hear footsteps all over his room. Just as he said that, his door was smashed open.  
  
"WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO BOY?" Uncle Vernon yelled trying to sniff the air.  
  
"Hedwig," Harry said immediately and calmly as if talking to owls was an everyday thing.  
  
"Talking to OWLS? Have you finally gone mad?" he roared and Harry heard a growl from his bed.  
  
"Yes, indeed I have," said Harry grinning innocently.  
  
"Keep your talking DOWN! If I hear one more word..." Uncle Vernon threatened slamming the door shut.  
  
"Muggles," spat Lupin  
  
"So," said Harry going to face where Lupin's voice had come from.  
  
"If this is about your dream Harry..." Lupin warned.  
  
"What if it is?" asked Harry looking mildly amused at annoying Lupin.  
  
"DO NOT TRUST YOUR DREAMS!" Lupin yelled for the millionth time that summer.  
  
"But..." Harry started. It was hard to tell whether Lupin wasn't bursting with rage at the moment because of the Invisibility Cloak.  
  
"She's all right Har-" Lupin said and Harry immediately interrupted him.  
  
"AHA!" Harry cried triumphantly. "So you do know what's going on!" he said pointing an accusing finger in Lupin's direction.  
  
"Dumbledore does have her Harry," Lupin gave in.  
  
"Why does he need her?" Harry asked curiously.  
  
"Do you know who Alice is, Harry?" Lupin asked suspiciously.  
  
"No..." Harry said. He didn't have a clue who Alice was and hadn't given it a moment of thought before. All he knew was that she was in danger.  
  
"She's the daughter of Lord Voldemort."  
  
**** Harry couldn't believe his ears. Lupin must've been joking with him... yeah that was it.  
  
"Voldemort doesn't have a d-daughter," Harry protested.  
  
"Oh yes he does. Alice Riddle. She's about your age now Harry. Recent discovery she was. Apparently being held captive by her own mother who was trying to protect her from Voldemort. Dumbledore knew there was something wrong when her mother wrote to Hogwarts telling them her daughter was being home-schooled. Voldemort sent Death Eaters to the house when he returned. They used the Imperius curse. She escaped though, with Dumbledore, "Lupin explained. He told the story like it was a bedtime tale, but Harry wanted to know more.  
  
"She's evil though! What is Dumbledore doing helping the daughter of the most evil wizard of all time?" Harry asked incredulously. Dumbledore has lost it, he thought.  
  
"Oh she's not evil Harry. Mighty powerful witch though. She does things you know, without a wand, and her mom taught her lots of things too. A great witch her mom was... went to Hogwarts with Lily in fact..." Lupin trailed off dreamily, then, realizing he had said too much, changed the subject. "Anyway Harry, we're leaving for Hogwarts in a week! You should start on that homework."  
  
"I can't," Harry replied grumpily flopping onto his bed. He wanted to know what was going on that people weren't telling him. He wanted to ask Lupin more questions but he knew that he shouldn't push it.  
  
"Oh yeah, the Muggles. Hmm, I'll see what I can do about that." Lupin's invisible self walked to the door, opened it slowly, and then closed it behind him.  
  
Harry stared up at his ceiling as Lupin exited. He decided to write to Ron and Hermione.  
  
Ron and Hermione,  
  
At least I'll see you on the Hogwarts Express. I probably would have gone crazy this summer if it wasn't for you guys. Tell the rest I say hi.  
  
Harry  
  
He looked at his note, knowing that it was pitiful, but he definitely couldn't talk about anything having to do with him and how he found out about Alice in case the owl was intercepted.  
  
He walked over to Hedwig, tied the note around her leg and watched her fly out of the window, happy to be on a job. Suddenly Lupin marched into his room.  
  
"Here's your stuff Harry," Lupin said taking of the Invisibility Cloak for the first time that morning. He dumped stacks of books, rolls of parchment, some quills and bottles of ink all over Harry's bed.  
  
"I don't need to do Homework. I've had to do work every day this summer," Harry said stubbornly looking at his schoolwork as if it was a pile of socks.  
  
"Defense Against the Dark Arts taught to you by Aurors is not as important as your homework," Lupin said sharply. "You should get started with that Transfiguration essay."  
  
"Lupin. How am I going to get my stuff from Diagon Alley?" Harry asked as he began the essay.  
  
"Kingsley's on it," Lupin said simply putting his cloak back on.  
  
Harry's shred of hope vanished. He wanted more than anything to leave the house and return to the wizarding world. After the announcement of Voldemort's return, it was simple to know why Harry was being put under such unfair guardianship.  
  
"Tell me more about what's going on," Harry pleaded.  
  
"There's nothing going on," Lupin said.  
  
"About Alice I mean," Harry said quickly.  
  
"There's nothing about Alice," Lupin shrugged.  
  
"There must be if Dumbledore helped in her capture," Harry said grinning.  
  
"What Dumbledore does is none of your business Harry," Lupin explained.  
  
"But why did he take her?" Harry asked curiously.  
  
"He didn't 'take her'. He, well, rescued her. But he couldn't have rescued her if she hadn't been fighting the Imperius curse and sending us owls," Lupin answered. He passed Harry his Defense Against the Dark Arts homework and another piece of parchment, but since he was still under the cloak, it seemed the book and parchment was floating in mid-air.  
  
"Why did she write to Dumbledore? I would think that if she's Voldemort's daughter..." Harry trailed off.  
  
"Oh no, not at all. She's the opposite of him. Doesn't look at all like him, though she's got his powers hidden deep in her. She'll be at Hogwarts this year, with you, Ron and Hermione," Lupin informed.  
  
"What happened to her mom?" Harry asked suddenly.  
  
"Killed... Death Eaters," Lupin said clearly.  
  
"But wasn't she Voldemort's wife?" Harry asked earnestly.  
  
"No, they never got married. He only just realized he'd had a daughter," Lupin said checking if Harry was still writing his essays. A moment of silence passed, but then Harry, not being able to stop himself, asked another question.  
  
"What was he going to do to her?" Harry asked interestedly.  
  
"That, I don't know. We think he was either going to turn her into one of him, or kill her," Lupin said, then he suddenly swallowed. "See Harry. She's got the blood of Voldemort in her, though she's not evil at all. It's a constant battle with being evil and good inside of her. And she's got some of Voldemort's powers. Like she can speak Parsletounge too, and she can do magic without wands, which is extraordinary, that's if she's angry or happy enough. But no more questions! Just do your homework."  
  
Harry did as he was told, his mind racing with the questions he'd ask Lupin the next day.  
  
****  
  
Harry was practically jumping up and down with excitement. Today he was going back to Hogwarts! He would finally see Ron and Hermione and he would not need to be followed everywhere, every day.  
  
"Here's the plan Harry," Kingsley instructed as they walked to a really long car full with people from the Order. "We're going to drive to London. Arthur here," he indicated Mr. Weasley in the drivers seat, "will drop us all off at King's Cross. We will escort you through the wall onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters, and see you on the Hogwarts express."  
  
Harry looked. It was about 8 members from the Order. There was Lupin, Mrs. and Mr. Weasley, Moody, Dedalus Diggle, Mundungus, Bill, and then Kingsley. He was surprised he needed this much protection, but clambered into the back anyway.  
  
"What if Voldemort comes on the train? Like that Dementor did?" Harry joked nervously looking at the serious and glum expressions on the people's faces.  
  
"We already have someone on the train Harry," Lupin said softly.  
  
"What? Who?" he demanded instantly.  
  
"You'll see soon enough," Mr. Weasley promised as he drove towards London.  
  
******  
  
After a while's drive the car screeched to a halt in front of the King's Cross Station. Everyone but Mr. Weasley got out of the car.  
  
They looked like a small gang as they trooped into the station and formed a protective wall around Harry. But Harry wasn't bothered by it this time, he was just extremely happy to be going back to Hogwarts.  
  
"Alright, Molly and Bill, you go in first. Then Moody and I will escort Harry in and then Mundungus, Diggle and Lupin will come in last," Kingsley instructed. Mrs. Weasley and Bill hit the barrier at a run and vanished from sight. Moody and Kingsley (on either side of Harry) leaned against the wall and they too disappeared. Harry gazed at the gleaming scarlet steam engine he loved so much. He saw Bill and Mrs. Weasley there stuffing his trunk in an empty compartment on the train.  
  
"Go on now Harry," Lupin said urging Harry to get on the train while the whistle sounded. "We'll see you soon."  
  
Harry got onto the train and into the compartment where his stuff was. He headed towards the window and saw Lupin waving dramatically at him.  
  
The compartment door slid open and Ron and Hermione, followed by Ginny all collapsed into the seats.  
  
"It's hard traveling with Dumbledore," Ron announced. They didn't see Harry in the compartment.  
  
"Yea... who... would... have thought... he would... be so..." Hermione panted.  
  
"Hey Harry," Ginny interrupted and Hermione and Ron whipped around to see Harry staring at them curiously.  
  
"Hi," Harry mumbled taking a seat next to Ron.  
  
"Well at least you didn't blow up in our faces," Hermione said in an almost teasing voice.  
  
Harry gave her a sharp look and the grin was wiped from Hermione's face instantly.  
  
"Where'd you go with Dumbledore?" Harry asked as the train started up.  
  
"Oh... yea... he's um..." Ginny started, but the door slid open once again and Neville bounded in looking quite scared.  
  
"MALFOY!" he gasped as he sunk into an empty seat.  
  
"What about Malfoy?" Ginny asked, glad that she didn't have to answer Harry.  
  
"He cornered me just now. Asked where you were Harry," Neville said, clutching at a stitch in his side.  
  
Harry didn't care about Malfoy at the second but rounded on Ginny.  
  
"Where were you going with Dumbledore?" he demanded, quite angrily.  
  
"He escorted us here," Ginny said softly, as though if she said it any louder Harry would explode.  
  
"He's here on the train, with Alice," Ron said as though it was common knowledge.  
  
"You know about Alice?" Harry asked impressed. Now he could ask Ron and Hermione questions without making them mad like Lupin.  
  
"Of course. She stayed with us for a week," Hermione said shrugging.  
  
"Is she, you know..." Harry trailed off. Ron answered straight away.  
  
"No. But she did take the last of the pumpkin tarts last night..." he said.  
  
Neville, who was feeling quite left out interrupted.  
  
"Who's Alice?" he asked at once.  
  
"Voldemort's daughter," replied Ron stretching in his chair.  
  
Neville's eyes widened in horror. "Wh-what?" he asked.  
  
"Voldemort's daughter, Neville," Hermione repeated slowly.  
  
Neville shrieked at the name but then recovered and opened his mouth to speak.  
  
"No Neville, she's not evil," Ron said with a hint of boredom in his voice.  
  
The compartment door burst open and Malfoy, followed by Crabbe and Goyle entered smugly. They strutted around the room and came to a halt where Harry sat.  
  
"So Potter. Thought it was funny what your little friends did on the train back?" Malfoy asked as his eyes narrowed.  
  
Harry suddenly remembered turning Malfoy and his goons into gigantic slugs.  
  
"I hope you know that I had to go to St. Mungos," Malfoy said. "Now you're going to pay," he said maliciously. He reached into his robes and was about to produce a wand, but Harry was faster.  
  
" xpelliarmus " Harry said pointing his wand at Malfoy. Malfoy's wand rose into the air and Ginny grabbed it grinning.  
  
"What's going on here?" came a voice at the door. Everyone whipped around and there was Albus Dumbledore, looking quite unnerved. "Draco, Vincent and Gregory, get out of this compartment and back to your own," ordered Dumbledore.  
  
Malfoy stood open-mouthed and was about to ask why Dumbledore was here, but thought better of it. He snatched his wand back from Ginny and walked out of the room, his head high in the air, followed closely by Crabbe and Goyle.  
  
Dumbledore walked into the compartment, and was followed closely by a girl.  
  
"All right there, Harry?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes twinkling.  
  
"Yes," Harry said, staring bewildered at Dumbledore. He still couldn't believe that Dumbledore was here. He was pretty sure Headmasters did not come on trains so much.  
  
"Well, as you may already know, this is Alice Riddle. I can trust you to look after her? I need to go and speak to the driver about something... Bye," Dumbledore said exiting the compartment.  
  
Alice looked around nervously, as though thinking whether she should sit or stand. She had long strawberry-blonde hair and great blue eyes. Harry was surprised at how little she looked like her father. If he had to guess which was the only feature that looked like her fathers it was her eyes. Even though they were not red, they did look like cat eyes.  
  
"Hello Alice," Ron said. He kicked Neville who was staring at her as though he was being hypnotized and he gave a small whimper of fear when she looked in his direction.  
  
"Hi," she said and took a seat next to Ginny. She glanced over at Harry, who was still staring at her as though she were scum and looked away quickly.  
  
Harry knew it was probably hard for her to see the boy who her father wanted to kill. So he forced himself to smile, but he was still thinking what if...  
  
There was a moment of awkward silence while everyone stared at her.  
  
"I know what you're thinking," she said quietly looking at her feet to avoid everyone's eyes. "You think that just because just because I'm Voldemort's daughter, it means that just as equally likely to kill you all right now." She looked up and Harry was surprised to see she was smiling.  
  
"No we don't," Ron started but Alice just smiled wider.  
  
"If I wanted to, I would've already done so," Alice said. "And don't worry boy," she added to Neville who looked as if he was about to cry when being addressed by her. "I'm not going to suddenly attack you."  
  
Neville whimpered and then said. "B-but..." and was kicked again by Ron.  
  
"NOW YOU'VE GOT ME ANGRY!" she screamed, her grin replaced by a frown. Her eyes rolled into the top of her head and she pointed a finger at Neville.  
  
Neville screamed and clambered up and out of the compartment. Harry stood shocked at what he was seeing and Ron jumped back in horror.  
  
But then Alice's eyes rolled back down and she began laughing loudly. "I'm just kidding," she said now looking positively full of glee.  
  
Harry smiled nervously and he could see Ron take his hands out of the chair, which he gripped when Alice went psycho. Hermione however looked as if she was going to have a heart attack. She laughed faintly.  
  
"Oh come on. I was kidding," Alice explained looking from one face to another. "Just trying to scare you. Since you think I'm going to kill you when you least expect it."  
  
"Yes of course. Funny," Hermione said, though she eyed Alice suspiciously.  
  
Alice looked around the compartment. "So..." she said trying to change the topic.  
  
"Are you really Voldemort's daughter?" Harry found himself asking.  
  
Alice looked up and smiled again. "Yes, I really am his daughter," Alice replied.  
  
"But how do you know?" asked Ron who looked rather relieved that Alice hadn't yet killed them.  
  
"Mom told me. I believe her. And why else would Voldemort send Death Eaters to control me? Or maybe he just has a really bad grudge on my family, but I would think he would've killed me in the two years he held me captive," she said.  
  
"Right, of course," mumbled Ron.  
  
"Are you really Harry Potter?" Alice asked, now admiring Harry.  
  
Harry was surprised by this question.  
  
"Yes," he said nervously. He didn't like Alice watching him.  
  
"I salute you," she said simply.  
  
"For what?" asked Harry surprised at what she had just said.  
  
"Defeating my father. It gave me 14 years without him," she explained.  
  
"How are you getting sorted?" Hermione asked trying to change the subject.  
  
"Oh I was already sorted. Dumbledore brought that hat with him," she shrugged. She obviously didn't care what house she was in.  
  
"And...?" Hermione prompted.  
  
"It must've malfunctioned. It said I was suited for Slytherin and Gryffindor," she informed.  
  
"What? You can't be in two houses!" Ron practically shouted.  
  
"I know. Dumbledore said it was up to me which house I could be in," Alice said. She looked out of the window as the scenery turned to green fields and farms.  
  
"Which one did you pick?" Ginny asked.  
  
"Haven't decided. Dumbledore said the hat only wanted to put me in Slytherin because, you know, I'm Voldemort's daughter and he was the heir of Slytherin, but that it also wanted to put me in Gryffindor because I had so much 'good' in me," she said rolling her eyes. "They think I have all this 'good' in me as if I have evil in me also. I don't have any evil in me, or else I would feel the urge to kill and to harm others. But I don't, how come people say I do when I know I don't?" she asked sharply. "  
  
This question stumped everyone in the compartment.  
  
"What house are you guys in?" Alice asked suddenly as if snapping out of a sleep. She smiled again.  
  
"Gryffindor," Ginny replied weakly, still staring at Alice as if she were on show in a museum.  
  
"Then I'll be in Gryffindor. I really didn't want to be in Slytherin. I heard my father was in that house, and he was the heir... I don't want to be known as the heir's daughter. I want to be known as Alice Riddle, the girl in Gryffindor," she said dreamily. Harry knew how she felt. He didn't want to be known as 'Harry Potter, the boy who lived', he wanted to be known as normal Harry Potter, son of James and Lily. But he knew that would never happen, not in a million years, because Voldemort had returned and many people were looking back at Harry, expecting him to defeat the Dark Lord again.  
  
****  
  
The rest of the trip to Hogwarts was the worst that Harry had ever had, including the one in his third year where the Dementor had come aboard.  
  
An awkward silence filled the compartment for minutes until someone made a pathetic attempt to restart the conversation. There would be a few mumbles about the topic and then another long tension filled silence.  
  
When the witch with the trolley came around, Harry bought some Chocolate Frogs.  
  
"Why don't you buy anything Alice?" Hermione asked taking a small bite out of the chocolate frog.  
  
"Not hungry," she replied watching everyone eat.  
  
Dumbledore poked his head into the compartment and gave a contented nod of approval. "Everything okay in here?" he asked staring at Harry and Alice who were on opposite ends of the compartment.  
  
"Yes Professor," Harry said. He watched Dumbledore go back out of the compartment and started munching on the frogs again.  
  
After Dumbledore did this every hour on the trip, Alice got annoyed. When the compartment door slid open for the fourth time Alice lost her patience.  
  
"Dumbledore, we're fine! If we need you we'll-" she started, but turned to look who was at the door and a look of glee replaced the boredom in her face. "Hello," she said cheerfully as Neville stepped timidly into the compartment followed by Luna.  
  
Neville closed his eyes and gulped hard, as though forcing himself to do something particularly nasty. He sat down next to Ron, his eyes still closed and then opened them and saw that Alice was watching his every move in pure enjoyment. It seemed to Harry that it took every bit of Neville's nerves to come back into the compartment and eyed Luna suspiciously. She didn't seem to notice Harry but instead sat down next to Ginny and got a glazed look in her eyes as if she were day dreaming once more.  
  
"I said hello," she repeated still looking happily at Neville.  
  
But instead of Neville returning the greeting his eyes narrowed and he said coldly, "I'm not scared of you."  
  
"Good!" Alice said enthusiastically. "Then we can have a GREAT time. You don't mind if we practice a few spells on you before school. You know, for a bit of extra wand-time before classes?" she said whipping out her wand. Harry knew that she was determined to scare Neville again and he heard a slight whimper from him but was amazed when Neville didn't get up again.  
  
"No th-thanks," he said gulping again.  
  
"Oh, this won't hurt one bit. Promise," she whispered. She pointed her wand in-between Neville's eyes.  
  
Neville was about to get up and scream but Ron held him back down.  
  
"Duel her Neville," Ron urged and took Neville's wand from Neville's pocket and gave it to him.  
  
"B-but-" Neville started as Ron thrust his wand in his hand.  
  
"C'mon Neville ," Alice said sweetly, her wand still glued to the spot on Neville's head.  
  
Neville suddenly felt a burst of anger and he whipped his wand in the air, pointed it at Alice and screamed "Expelliar- "  
  
Alice was to fast and she yelled "STUPEFY! " A jet of green light shot at Neville and he collapsed to the floor quickly. Alice grinned mischievously.  
  
"ALICE!" Hermione said, her eyes wide in terror. "Why did you do that to Neville? We're not supposed to use magic until we're at Hogwarts."  
  
"Oh come on. I just wanted to tease him. He's obviously scared of me because I'm Voldemort's daughter. Don't want to disappoint him do I?" she said, still smiling at her work.  
  
Ginny was looking entertained and was about to mumble the counter-curse when Alice stopped her.  
  
"Let me do it," she said and pointed her wand at Neville who was on the floor. " Enervate " she said and Neville woke slowly.  
  
He was looking as though he had just been killed and was staring at one person to another in the compartment.  
  
"Sorry mate," Alice said.  
  
"Y-y-you... You," Neville spluttered pointing a finger at Alice.  
  
"I said sorry. I didn't know you'd be so easy to curse," she said rudely.  
  
Neville's eyes were as wide as an owl's and he was lost for words.  
  
"I'm really not evil," Alice explained. "I thought it would be funny to tease you for a bit. I really am sorry, but I have a reputation to protect you know. Everyone expects me to be some evil little witch, so I just pretend I am." She smiled again.  
  
Neville got to his feet and sat back down.  
  
"You're Voldemort's daughter?" Luna asked, snapping back from her dream world.  
  
"Why, yes... yes I am," Alice frowned. Alice looked different when she wasn't smiling. All the life looked as if it was sucked out of her, and more a moment, for a spilt second, he thought he saw a young Voldemort flicker in her face. She sort of looked like the sixteen year old Tom Riddle, which Harry had the misfortune to meet in his second year at Hogwarts.  
  
"Oh, that's nice," Luna said and she stared back into space.  
  
****  
  
They finally arrived in the Hogsmeade Station. Dumbledore walked them outside and entered the first carriage, driven by the Thestrals.  
  
Harry watched as Alice scooted towards the Thestrals and started admiring them magnificently and began stroking the skeleton like beast.  
  
"You can see them?" Harry asked looking bewildered.  
  
"Of course I can. What... are we not supposed to or something?" Alice asked looking suspiciously at the creature.  
  
"Well..." Harry said looking for the right words while also wondering who Alice had seen die. "You can only see them if you've seen someone die."  
  
Alice quickly pulled back her hand as if the Thestral burnt her and she stormed into the carriage after Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Luna and Neville.  
  
Harry squeezed in after her. The carriage was only meant to fit 4 or 5 people but not 7.  
  
The carriage clambered off down the road anyway and made it's way towards the Hogwarts castle. Harry had almost forgotten what it looked like and gazed admiringly at it's many towers and turrets. They passed the winged boar statues at the gate entrance.  
  
Finally they squeezed their way out of the small carriage and began walking up the front steps.  
  
"Potter!" came a cold voice behind them all that Harry knew to well.  
  
"What is it Malfoy?" Harry asked looking at Malfoy, a look of annoyance on his face.  
  
"I'm not finished with you yet," Malfoy said in a voice filled with purest loathing.  
  
"I think you are," Alice stepped in beside Harry, her wand held tightly in her hand.  
  
"Who are you ?" snapped Malfoy coldly.  
  
"That is not important. The important thing is that I know who you are," Alice said acidly, a look of hate in her eyes. Harry again saw the flicker of Voldemort on her face.  
  
"Really? I don't care. If you're friends with Weasley you're obviously a poor, mud-blood lover," Malfoy said, his eyes narrowing.  
  
"Malfoy. You do know that when you get angry, you look like your father, don't you?" Alice asked sweetly. "Yes, it's true. You both look like ugly crows whenever you're ticked. Except, the only difference is that you look like someone pissed on your face in the mean time and you swallowed some of it. Does it taste bitter?"  
  
Harry was shocked and looked at Ron who was now laughing hysterically. He looked back at Malfoy who was looking like someone had slapped royalty.  
  
"How dare you?! Wait till my father hears you and your filthy comments," Malfoy snarled.  
  
"Oh I'm not worried, dear Draco. Wait till my father hears how you treated me on my first day," Alice grinned wickedly.  
  
"And WHO is your father?" Malfoy demanded.  
  
"Let's just say... he's your father's boss," Alice said. She turned on her heel and walked back up the steps.  
  
"Wait. My father doesn't have a-" Malfoy started. Then it hit him. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped.  
  
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville all turned also and followed Alice up the stairs.  
  
They entered the Entrance Hall and were about to set off to the Great Hall when a voice shouted "Potter! I need a word with you in my office. Hmm, and you too Alice."  
  
Harry and Alice turned to see Professor McGonagall on the Marble staircase. They watched as she turned and walked back up the stairs.  
  
"What does she want?" Ron asked Harry.  
  
"Don't know," Harry shrugged and he and Alice walked up the Marble staircase after McGonagall. ****  
  
Alice walked slowly up the steps, and Harry knew that she was looking at everything in the castle as though they were all miraculous. He knew what she was feeling, because he thought that too, in his first year at Hogwarts. Being secluded from the Wizarding world for 11 years and having some whole new world being sprung upon him was a wondrous feeling.  
  
They followed McGonagall slowly to her office. They reached the door and she opened it and let them in.  
  
"Please, Potter, Riddle, have a seat," she said pointing suggestively at two armchairs at the corner of the room. Professor McGonagall took a seat behind her desk on her own armchair and studied them carefully.  
  
"The armchairs are quite clean you know," she said when they didn't sit down.  
  
Harry ignored her and was instead watching a shadow in the corner of the room.  
  
Alice, taking Harry's lead not to sit down, looked at him and then stared instinctively at where he was staring. The shadow got up and strode towards the middle of the room and the cold, pale face of Snape came into view.  
  
"Manners, Potter," Snape said coldly. "Professor McGonagall said to sit." Harry, still staring at Snape took his seat obediently. Alice sat next to him and glared from teacher to teacher.  
  
"Now Potter... As you probably know, Fred and George Weasley's last year of school has passed. So has Alicia's, Katie's and Angelina's. That leaves you and Mr. Weasley on the Gryffindor Quidditch team," McGonagall started. Harry suddenly clued in. He wanted to smack himself for not being able to think about it over the summer. Who was going to be Quidditch captain? She continued. "Angelina chose you to be Quidditch Captain," she said looking at Harry's face, which was full of shock. She smiled now. "I trust you to find some good replacements on the team?" she asked.  
  
"Yes, of course Professor," Harry replied still bewildered by this news.  
  
"As for you Riddle..." McGonagall said sharply turning to Alice. "Professor Dumbledore has told me all about your encounter with the Sorting Hat. I have called Professor Snape here so that you can make an informative decision."  
  
"Um..." Alice started staring at McGonagall stupidly. "Gryffindor?" she asked. She, no doubt, was scared of making a wrong decision.  
  
"Excellent!" McGonagall said happily. "Now, let's go down to the feast shall we?" She got up and walked briskly to the door. Snape followed her, scowling at Harry.  
  
"Who was THAT?" Alice asked staring after Snape with great dislike.  
  
"Snape," Harry said getting up.  
  
"And he was here... why?" she asked, still confused.  
  
"Head of Slytherin," Harry said sharply. He was still trying to get the memory of Snape throwing him out of his office last year.  
  
"Well he sure looks... angry," Alice laughed as they made their way back down towards the Great Hall.  
  
"He doesn't like me very much," Harry explained.  
  
"Why?" Alice asked interestedly.  
  
"Because my father made fun of him," he said. He Strangely felt like he didn't want to explain about his father to a girl who was the daughter of Voldemort.  
  
"Really? I heard from the Death Eaters that Snape was one of the best wizards of their little group. Why would he let someone bully him?" she asked.  
  
"I have no idea," Harry shrugged. "My father was quite good at it too. Knew which hexes to use and when."  
  
Alice gazed off in the distant. She wondered what it would be like to have a father like that... a father to be PROUD of.  
  
They walked down the Marble Staircase into the Entrance Hall and then went into the Great Hall.  
  
The roof looked pitch black and cloudy, as if threatening to rain any moment. The four long house tables in their original places along with the Staff Table at the head of them. They spotted the first-years and Harry knew that they had missed the Sorting Hat's song yet again.  
  
Heads turned to look at them as they entered. The room erupted in immediate whispers and gasps. Had Malfoy told the whole school already that Alice was Voldemort's daughter. And then Harry suddenly knew why everyone was looking at them wide-eyed. Him and ALICE? They were looking at him as though betrayed.  
  
What had they expected? Harry thought as he took a seat at the Gryffindor Table. Alice sat beside him, looking awkwardly around the room. Did they expect him to curse Alice the minute he saw her just on Voldemort's behalf? Was he expected to protect them all from the slightest of harm? Well I'm NOT Hogwarts' Hero! Harry thought angrily.  
  
Harry could see Professor Flitwick holding a large scroll. He had stopped reading out names when Harry and Alice came in but he gathered himself and continued reading.  
  
"Nex, William," he squeaked. A boy with wide, blue eyes and a small head topped with shaggy, brown hair stepped forward and put the hat on his head.  
  
"Slytherin!" shouted the hat almost immediately.  
  
"Olive, Lucille,"...."Hufflepuff!  
  
"  
  
"Patil, Payten,"... "Gryffindor!" A girl with long, brown hair and gray eyes walked towards the Gryffindor table. Pavarti screamed with joy and embraced the girl. It hit Harry that this must be Pavarti's other sister.  
  
This went on for about five minutes. Until "Zindle, Leslie" was sorted into Hufflepuff  
  
"That was boring," Ron sighed. He rested his head on his chin and was staring expectantly at his plate. He looked over at Harry, who seemed to look angry at something. Ron ignored his facial expression and instead turned to look at Alice. He still couldn't believe that Voldemort had a daughter... it boggled the mind.  
  
"Well it's not supposed to be entertaining Ron," Hermione reminded. She was sitting opposite of them, beside Pavarti and Lavender.  
  
"Well, it's not supposed to make you want to sleep, is it?" Ron snorted. Hermione opened her mouth to say something but then stopped and closed it.  
  
Dumbledore had stood up and raised his hand, asking for silence. Everyone in the hall shut up and waited for him to begin. No doubt everyone would want to hear what was going on with Voldemort.  
  
Dumbledore smiled, his blue eyes twinkling behind his glasses. "Two words for now. Tuck in!" He waved his wand cheerfully and the plates and goblets on every house table filled instantly.  
  
Harry watched Dumbledore sit down. He glanced along the staff table, trying to find out who would be the next defense against the dark arts teacher. "Sprout, McGonagall, Snape, Hagrid," Harry muttered counting everyone in the staff table until he saw an unfamiliar face.  
  
A witch with gray hair and a sour look on her face was watching everyone in the hall eat. She looked disgusted at the very thought of being here and then her eyes flickered to her plate. She pushed it away defiantly.  
  
Harry could see Dumbledore say something to her from down the table, and she pulled the plate back to her and stuck her fork in some salad.  
  
"What's her problem?" Ron asked. He had looked to see what Harry was looking at and had seen the little show the witch put up.  
  
"Who is she?" Harry answered with his own question. But Ron had already started eating his own food, and was shoving a pork chop in his mouth, determined to chew it all in one mouthful.  
  
"She's obviously the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Hermione said rudely. She was watching Ron in disgust and pulled her eyes away and began to eat her own food. She was eating rather slowly, as if to show Ron how a normal person eats.  
  
After everyone had seconds and dessert, Dumbledore stood up again and with another wave of his wand, the plates were wiped clean.  
  
"Now is the time to discuss some matters," he said calmly and stood beaming at them all. "Filch has asked me to remind everyone that the Forest is out of bounds to everyone and that anything sold from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes is banned."  
  
Everyone burst into applaud at Fred and George's shop. No doubt, everyone had visited it while shopping for school in Diagon Alley.  
  
"On a little more cheerful note," he continued over the booming cheers from Ron and Ginny. "I am pleased to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," he said turning to the witch. "Please welcome Professor... Tonks!"  
  
Harry was taken aback. Tonks? Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher? Never... she had a job at the ministry! Harry turned to look at Ron and Hermione. Ron seemed almost as surprised as Harry but Hermione just smiled and clapped with the rest of the students in the school.  
  
Tonks flushed and screwed up her eyes. Next moment her gray hair had turned to navy blue and her sour expression was fixed to a cheerful one. The color of her eyes had changed along with the shape of her lips, but Harry could still tell that it was Tonks.  
  
Everyone in the Great Hall applauded in amusement.  
  
"I have no doubt that many of you are tired from your long trip, and the feast only made you even more so. You should rest up for your first day of classes tomorrow. Goodnight," he said and he sat back down. Everyone flooded out of the Great Hall.  
  
"Tonks?" Ron said, still bewildered.  
  
"Yes, Ron, Tonks," Hermione said. She couldn't help but talk to Ron in a slow voice.  
  
"But she can't be our new teacher," Harry protested as he made his way back up to the Gryffindor Tower.  
  
"Why not?" Alice asked. Harry just realized she had been behind them the whole time. He was just about to ask what she was doing eavesdropping when he remembered she didn't know where the Gryffindor Tower was.  
  
"Because she's an Auror!" Harry informed. Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment.  
  
"Maybe she's just doing Dumbledore a favor. Everyone thinks the job's cursed, and he knows no one wants another Ministry appointed teacher, so he asked if someone in the Ord.." she stopped, and turned to Alice.  
  
"The Order?" she asked sweetly.  
  
"Yes. Well, he could've asked everyone in the Order who wanted the job. And Tonks must've volunteered," Hermione guessed.  
  
They climbed a staircase and walked through a passage before Ron spoke up.  
  
"Lupin probably would've," Ron mumbled. Lupin had been Ron's favorite Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.  
  
"Not after what happened in the third year," Harry reminded.  
  
"What if someone MADE him take that potion every day..." Ron started and Hermione stopped him.  
  
"The Defense Against the Dark Arts spot has already been filled Ron. Maybe next year," she said hopefully.  
  
"I think Nymphadora would be a good teacher," Alice said. Harry was about to ask who Nymphadora was and remembered that it was Tonks.  
  
"You know Tonks?" Harry asked.  
  
"Of course I do," Alice said suddenly frowning. "She's my cousin." She looked at everyone's faces. "Second cousin I think. She was my mom's cousin... Anyway," she said snapping back to reality after going into a kind of trance. "She used to visit me all the time when I was little, she gave me this when I was 11 and wasn't going to Hogwarts," She reached in her pocket and produced her wand. "I wasn't aloud to go to Diagon Alley and to school so she bought me this wand and convinced my mom to home school me..." she trailed off again.  
  
Harry suddenly remembered Sirius saying that Tonks was his cousin also.  
  
"Soo, that would make you Sirius's cousin also!" Harry said excitedly. He felt his heart give a great lurch downwards, but ignored it and stared at Alice.  
  
"Yes..." she started. "But he was like my third cousin, twice removed. Something like that..." she said.  
  
Harry remembered how many burn holes were in the tapestry at Sirius' house and wondered how many people had been removed from the family.  
  
"My mom was a first cousin to Andromeda, Bellatrix and Narcissa. When Andromeda married Ted, she was removed, but since she was my mom's favorite cousin, they always kept in touch. Then my mom went and had a fling with my half-blood father, and was removed. But she was welcomed back in open arms when they realized he was Lord Voldemort. Then she had me," she said. After frowning and looking on the verge of tears for a couple of moments, she suddenly smiled.  
  
Ron, Hermione and Harry were all lost for words. How confusing this family was, Harry thought. He actually liked being the only Potter for a half a second.  
  
"How can you remember all those names?" Harry asked.  
  
"We have some sort of tapestry in our house and I used to stare at it when I was bored. I don't know ALL the names, just the most recent ones," she said.  
  
"Wait a moment," Hermione said and then her eyes widened. "You're related to Malfoy?" she asked.  
  
"Yes..." Alice smiled. "By marriage of course, but that's how I knew it was him. I had seen pictures of Narcissa from Nymphadora and knew too well who those pale eyes and hair could've belonged to."  
  
"But Lucius has them too," Ron reminded, and seemed to fight back the urge of punching his hand.  
  
"Yes, maybe that's why Narcissa was drawn to him. A man that looked like her... quite disturbing..." she smiled again.  
  
They stopped in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady.  
  
Hermione and Ron, who were still prefects, said the password, which was "Codswallop".  
  
Harry and Ron departed to one side of the room where the door to the boy's dormitories stood and Hermione and Alice went into the girl's dormitories.  
  
Harry found his trunk on his bed along with Hedwig's cage and put them onto the floor. He drew the curtains of his four-poster and started to think about what Alice had said.  
  
He was even more fascinated by her than he had been when she first entered the compartment of the Hogwarts Express. She had to live with being Voldemort's daughter and being intertwined against her will with a family full of arrogant purebloods. His earlier thoughts of suspiciousness and uncertainty had long since vanished. He know felt... sorry for her.  
  
****  
  
"Harry, it's almost breakfast... wake up!" Ron said, poking Harry awake.  
  
"Dun wanna..." mumbled Harry. He turned over so that his face was buried in his pillow but then his stomach grumbled and he decided to get ready.  
  
"I wonder what Defense Against the Dark Arts will be like with Tonks teaching," Ron wondered as they made their way to the common room.  
  
"Alice! Come on! We're going to be late " Hermione hissed. She was dragging Alice by the arm towards the back of the Fat Lady portrait.  
  
"But look outside!" Alice said pointing towards the window. Harry turned to see what she was looking at.  
  
It was completely foggy outside. Not normal for September. Harry shrugged.  
  
"Come on Alice," Hermione said again opening the portrait hole. Alice obediently climbed through the hole but looked back before the portrait slammed shut.  
  
Ron and Hermione began walking ahead, discussing something that Harry tried to overhear but was interrupted by Alice who tugged on his robes.  
  
"What?" Harry asked, still watching Hermione and Ron.  
  
"Is she always that bossy?" Alice whispered, pointing to Hermione.  
  
"Yes..." Harry started.  
  
"I wanted to go and explore the castle last night. I heard you have an Invisibility Cloak," she hinted mischievously.  
  
"Uh... that's right... I do," Harry said nervously.  
  
"But... she stopped me. And then she went on about being expelled and junk," she continued.  
  
"Yea, Hermione's not one for adventures," Harry said staring at the back of Hermione.  
  
"So... do you want to?" Alice asked grinning widely.  
  
"Want to what?" Harry asked confused.  
  
"Give me a tour of Hogwarts," Alice said.  
  
Harry looked at her, bewildered. He wasn't used to anyone asking him to go explore Hogwarts at night. They only did it when they needed to. She's completely different from Hermione, Harry thought.  
  
"Uh... sure," Harry agreed.  
  
"Great!" Alice said and she started walking faster to catch up with Ron and Hermione. Harry caught up also.  
  
They entered the Great Hall and quickly ate their breakfast. Harry was watching Hermione. She sure is acting strange, he thought suspiciously.  
  
Hermione was indeed acting strange. She was playing with her bacon and toast and looked deep in thought about something.  
  
"Hermione... are you alright?" Ron asked suddenly after watching Hermione for a couple of minutes.  
  
"Yes... alright..." Hermione mumbled still staring at her plate.  
  
Ron glanced at Harry and Harry looked equally confused.  
  
"You probably didn't get enough sleep," said Alice smiling. Hermione looked at Alice sharply. "You know, because you were reading that book... Dreams: What They Mean By: Shianna White ..." Alice started but was cut off by a particular nasty look from Hermione.  
  
"Having nightmares eh Hermione?" Ron asked cheerfully shoving a piece of bacon in his mouth.  
  
"No," Hermione said fiercely. She got up from the table, grabbed her book bag and stormed out of the Great Hall.  
  
"Wonder where 'Mione went," Ron said as they exited the Great Hall after breakfast.  
  
"Class?" Harry suggested taking out his timetable. He glanced at it. Defense Against the Dark Arts followed by Double Potions and then lunch.  
  
"I know where she went," Alice spoke up dreamily.  
  
Ron turned around to see that Alice was following them.  
  
"Where?" Harry asked, ignoring the fact that Alice followed them everywhere.  
  
"Back to the dormitories," she replied.  
  
"Why?" Ron asked suspiciously, his eyes narrowing.  
  
"Never you mind," Alice said turning to Ron. "She'll be back soon, don't worry."  
  
"How do you know she went there?" Harry asked.  
  
"She forgot that book on her bed. I saw it when she was dragging me out of the room," Alice shrugged while following Ron and Harry to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.  
  
They walked into the classroom and saw it completely deserted.  
  
"Let's grab a seat at the front..." Harry suggested looking around the room. There wasn't a trace of anyone being in this room since last year. The floor was covered in thick dust and the teacher's desk, which was usually full of parchment and quills and neat items, was empty.  
  
Slowly the room started filling up with more Gryffindors. All of them stared at Alice who was busying herself in cleaning her desk. "Scourgio!" she said and the thick dust vanished and a clean lemony scent filled the air.  
  
Finally the door to the classroom burst open and Tonks stumbled in. She had a scratched up face and there was a rip in her robes.  
  
"Sorry... sorry..." she said running to her desk and setting a suitcase down on top. "Peeves..." she said as she began to unpack some things onto her desk. Harry noticed there was a brilliant green orb that was hovering inches over her desk and immediately wondered what it was.  
  
"Okay... today we'll be practicing the Unforgivable Curses," she said briskly taking out her wand.  
  
Everyone gasped and Tonks rolled her eyes. "I know that you are only supposed to learn about them at a 6th year level, but with the return of Voldemort," everyone flinched at the name, "you will all be expected to know how to use each one. Wands out! Yes boy?"  
  
Seamus Finnigan had slowly raised his hand. When Tonks had spoken to him he blushed and began talking. "How do you make your face different?" he asked curiously. Everyone nodded their heads and Tonks rolled her eyes.  
  
"I'm a Metamorphagus," she explained in exasperation. "Anyway, on to the Unforgivable Curses..." but she was interrupted by a couple more hands shooting into the air.  
  
"What is it?" she asked everyone, looking annoyed.  
  
Lavender Brown looked around the class and then took it upon herself to speak for everyone. "Can you change how you look again?" she asked earnestly.  
  
Tonks tried her hardest to look strict but gave in and smiled. "Sure, but just this once!" she agreed. She closed her eyes tight and her hair (which was chestnut brown that day) turned Red and then switched to Orange, and then Yellow and then back to Red. It alternated over and over again like Christmas lights and she smiled again.  
  
"Anyway, back to the Unforgivable Curses. I'm sure you all know what they are by now. There's the Imperius curse, the Cruciatus curse and Avada Kedavra," she began. Everyone nodded silently, they already knew this.  
  
"Today, we'll be practicing the Imperius curse. It takes total control of the mind to make someone else do something against their will. Of course you won't be practicing on each other... I've brought some spiders to practice on. Their minds are easily accessed. Now remember. If you do decide to use the Imperius curse later in life... much later and only against the DARK wizards... remember that it can be blocked and it can kill you also. If you lose control of your mind while doing the Imperius curse, the magic will literally destroy your brain... fry it to smithereens... any who, I'll get the spiders," she said digging around in her suitcase again.  
  
She took out a bag of spiders and placed one on each desk and then returned to the front. "Alright, wands out. Point it directly at the spider. Make sure it doesn't get away! Okay now concentrate. The key to this curse is to tell yourself you WANT to or NEED to place the spider under the curse."  
  
Harry stared at his spider intently.  
  
I need to know how to do this! I need to protect myself against Voldemort and the Death Eaters...  
  
"Alright, now think of something you want your spider to do. Wait, never mind I'll just tell you what to make it do. Uh... make it jump, yea, jump," Tonks said. "Remember to concentrate. And do not lose eye contact with the spider. You won't need to keep eye contact all the time but for your first try you should. Alright, so by now you should've convinced yourself you want to do the curse, next you have to convince yourself you're speaking to the spider. Go on."  
  
Harry looked at his spider again. I can talk to the spider. The spider is listening to me. All I have to do is talk to it.  
  
"Next, you say "Imperio" then you should tell the spider to jump. If you did it right, it will jump. Alright, start now!" Tonks said.  
  
"Imperio!" Harry said to his spider. Jump! Jump jump jump jump jump! He looked at his spider, which wasn't moving at all. JUMP! he thought and the spider jumped. Harry grinned widely and stopped looking at his spider to look at everyone else. They were all staring at their spider. Harry saw Hermione's spider jump a couple inches out of the air. He saw Neville's spider scampering away and he saw Ron looking completely terrified as the spider was trying to crawl across his desk to him.  
  
"Get away get away!" Ron yelled.  
  
Harry looked over at Alice who was looking bored. She was the only one not looking intensely at her spider. Then Harry glanced at it. She was making it jump, high, but she was also making it do flips while it jumped. She was making it flip and twirl and leap, and she wasn't even making an effort.  
  
Soon the end of class buzzer sounded and everyone collected their books. Harry overheard Pavarti and Lavender up ahead.  
  
"Did you see her spider? She's obviously done it before. No doubt her dad taught her how to do it. Why did Dumbledore let her come to Hogwarts?" Pavarti asked.  
  
"He's gone mad," Lavender answered. Then they started talking about the boys in Hufflepuff and Harry lost interest.  
  
Why had Alice been able to do the Imperius curse so well and with ease? Had she really done it before? Harry thought hard.  
  
"Double Potions," Ron reminded as they made their way down to the dungeons, but Harry wasn't listening. He was staring at Alice who was walking a bit ahead of them, following Dean and Seamus to Potions. Maybe she was on her dad's side... ****  
  
They walked into the potions classroom, and it was completely opposite of Tonks'.  
  
The shelves were covered with bottles of all different shapes and sizes, each containing a different colored liquid or gas. The room smelled musty, as usual, since there were no windows in the room. Snape had perched himself on his desk and eyed each student that came in.  
  
Harry and Hermione took a table at the back, beside Ron and Neville. Alice took a seat at the front and Draco took the place beside her. Harry could see that Alice wanted to switch desks, but had no choice but to stay with Draco because the other desks were taken.  
  
"For this whole month we will be making the ever-so-popular-with-Voldemort- potion, Veritaserum. This is worth a quarter of your final grade so I suggest you follow the instructions carefully. The instructions for today's class are on the board. You may begin," he said simply.  
  
Neville gasped and Ron groaned.  
  
"Harry, trade me partners!" Ron pleaded.  
  
"No way Ron," Harry smiled as Hermione began adding the ingredients carefully.  
  
"It says to add three drops of Dragon Oil, and stir counterclockwise twice," she read after setting the cauldron temperature to the perfect heat. "And then we need to add..."  
  
Harry stopped listening and he stared at the front of the class where Draco and Alice were fighting over how to add the Dragon Oil.  
  
"You're not supposed to just let it drop in! You're supposed to put a drop on either side of the cauldron, so it's perfectly balanced. Not just in the middle," Alice practically screamed. "Let me do the other drop, you're going to mess it all up Draco!" She made to grab the eyedropper from Malfoy but he turned just in time, squirting more than two drops of Dragon Oil into the cauldron.  
  
"Now look what you've made me do!" Malfoy growled. "Professor!"  
  
Snape rolled his eyes and made his way to Malfoy and Alice's desk.  
  
"What is it?" he snapped. He looked down at their potion and sighed.  
  
"Professor, Draco put all the Dragon Oil into the potion! He messed it all up!" Alice whined.  
  
"I did not! She attacked me sir, she's crazy!" he said pointing at Alice, not daring to touch her in case he went crazy also.  
  
Snape's eyes narrowed and with a whip of his wand the now useless potion vanished. "10 points from Slytherin," he said coldly and he turned on his heel to his cupboard and returned with more Dragon Oil. "Start over," he ordered and walked back to his desk.  
  
"...And after the Worm's blood is added we have to let it sit overnight. Got that Harry?" Hermione asked.  
  
Harry stopped looking at the front of the class and nodded.  
  
Snape sure is acting strange. Why did he take 10 points from Slytherin? He favors his own house. He would take 50 from Gryffindor if it was me...  
  
Harry helped Hermione add the ingredients but kept risking glances at Malfoy and Alice's table.  
  
"Let me do it! You're going to screw it up," Alice said angrily.  
  
"You don't know how to do it!" Malfoy snapped adding some Worm's Blood.  
  
The arguing continued until the end of class where they pushed their cauldron's to the side of the room.  
  
"Never again Draco!" Alice yelled at Malfoy while walking out of the class.  
  
"Don't count on it Riddle!" Malfoy yelled back.  
  
****  
  
Harry was sitting in History of Magic. He was extremely bored as Professor Binns rambled tonelessly about Merpeople Conventions and Bannings.  
  
He felt his eyelids drooping as the bright sun shone down upon his desk. Suddenly something hit him in the back of his head and he snapped awake. He turned around and saw Alice mouthing the words "Open it". He looked at what had hit him, and found that it was a piece of parchment.  
  
He unfolded it and then read what it said.  
  
Meet me at midnight in the common room. Bring the cloak and the map  
  
Harry looked around to see if anyone had seen him open his note, but everyone was asleep on their desks and Professor Binns was writing dates on the boards, along with famous Mermen.  
  
He turned back to Alice and nodded, stuffing the note in his robes pockets.  
  
****  
  
Harry lay awake in his four-poster bed listening to Ron's snoring. He wanted to curl up and fall asleep but knew that Alice would probably never forgive him.  
  
Stay awake , he told himself. His Invisibility Cloak along with the Marauders map lay beside him. He looked over at his bedside clock. 11:30 . He decided to get ready to go downstairs. He changed out of his pajamas and into some robes and gathered the Invisibility Cloak and map in his hands. He opened the door to the spiral staircase outside and closed it quietly, careful not to disturb anyone in his dormitory.  
  
He entered the common room to see Alice asleep in the armchair next to the fire. He hesitated for a moment.  
  
Should I wake her? Nah... she probably needs the sleep. Wait, no! She made me stay awake so I will make her too. She planned this thing, it's her fault if she falls asleep.  
  
Harry shook Alice awake and she woke instantly.  
  
"Harry? Oh... oh dear! What time is it? I must've dozed off!" Alice said jumping out of the armchair.  
  
"It's almost midnight," Harry said.  
  
"Is that the Invisibility Cloak?" Alice asked smiling evilly.  
  
"Yes, and here's the map," Harry said handing her the map.  
  
"It doesn't look like a map," Alice said disappointed.  
  
"You tap it with your wand and say 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good'" Harry explained.  
  
Alice followed his instructions and then gasped when she saw the map.  
  
"Are there supposed to be this many dots?" she asked, staring intensely at the map.  
  
"What do you mean?" Harry asked snatching the map away from her. Harry's eyes widened also. There was a big circle of dots just down the corridor, making their way towards the portrait hole.  
  
"Quick! Alice go back to sleep in the armchair!" Harry hissed taking his cloak and wrapping it over the map. He threw the bundle across the room and it landed in the corner under a desk. He plunged himself into the nearest armchair just in time.  
  
"Honestly Albus. Do we have to check every common room each night?" came the crisp voice of McGonagall.  
  
"Yes Minerva. We must check that these kids are in bed and not roaming around the school mindlessly," Dumbledore said.  
  
"Potter... Riddle?" came a cold voice that could only belong to Snape.  
  
"Awww... should we wake them Albus?" McGonagall asked sweetly.  
  
"Hmmm... no leave them," Albus said. Harry could feel their gaze locked on him.  
  
"Were they studying?" came a high voice. Professor Flitwick's here too? Harry asked surprised. Then he realized it must be every Head of House and the Headmaster.  
  
"No, there are no books," Professor Sprout said matter-of-factly.  
  
"They're up to something Headmaster! If you just let me do a simple Behavior Adjustment charm..." Snape started.  
  
"No Severus! This was probably not a business meeting regarding mischief, but a social call," Dumbledore explained.  
  
It took Harry a couple of seconds to realize Dumbledore said this and he tried his hardest not to blush furiously or grip the end of the chair in anger. I'm not with Alice! She's not my girlfriend! How dare you Dumbledore? Harry thought angrily.  
  
"Let's leave now. We still have Hufflepuff's common room to inspect," Dumbledore ordered. He heard a bunch of footsteps clambering out of the portrait hole and heard the portrait slam shut. He risked a glance at where he heard the voices and saw it was completely empty.  
  
He looked over at Alice who was smiling widely. She was looking at the map.  
  
"Want to leave now?" she asked sweetly.  
  
"You still want to go with the Headmaster and four Head of Houses roaming around the school? They know I have an Invisibility Cloak. They're going to be suspicious," Harry warned seriously.  
  
Alice stopped smiling. "Fine, be a goody-goody. I still want to go, and I will," she said crossing her arms. She got up and walked over to where the cloak and map landed and started to feel where it was.  
  
"Fine, I'll go," Harry gave in. He had to admit, his heart was racing hard from pure thrill of being caught.  
  
Alice threw him the Invisibility Cloak and took the map. Harry unfolded it and threw it over the both of them.  
  
They began to walk to the portrait hole.  
  
"You have to get closer or we'll never walk un-noticed," Alice stated sharply. Harry was trying to get as far from Alice as possible while still staying under the Invisibility Cloak. "I won't bite you," she prompted.  
  
Harry moved closer and felt himself go red when their arms touched.  
  
"This way," he mumbled after they went through the portrait hole. They began walking slowly down the corridor.  
  
"Where are we going first?" Alice asked after awhile.  
  
Harry thought for a second and then smiled. "Want to go to the kitchens?" he asked.  
  
****  
  
They walked quickly and quietly through the school. Alice stopped occasionally checking the map, until they finally stopped in front of the fruit bowl portrait.  
  
"This is just a picture, Harry," Alice snorted.  
  
Harry ignored her and tickled the pear in the fruit bowl. The portrait giggled and then opened up. Alice's eyes widened and a grin spread across her face.  
  
"Excellent!" she said whipping off the Invisibility Cloak and clambering into the Kitchen.  
  
All of the house elves looked up and all of them gathered around Alice.  
  
"Would you like anything from our kitchens?" one house elf asked.  
  
"Oh my," Alice said as even more house elves surrounded her.  
  
Harry went by her side and looked around at all the house elves, looking for Dobby.  
  
"Yes. Do you mind if I ask for a chocolate cake?" Harry asked politely. The house elves nodded and rushed to work on the chocolate cake.  
  
"Harry Potter! Dobby is so glad to see you!" came a squeaky voice behind Alice and Harry. Harry turned around to see his favorite house elf, Dobby, come flying at them.  
  
"Hullo Dobby," Harry greeted.  
  
"Dobby is so glad you visited him, sir," Dobby said excitedly.  
  
"Who are you?" Alice asked in pure interest.  
  
"Dobby the house elf pretty lady!" Dobby answered looking at Alice. Alice blushed.  
  
"We can't stay long Dobby," Harry informed.  
  
"Yes we can Harry. Stop being such a spoil sport," Alice advised.  
  
Harry rolled his eyes. Even though it was fun being in the kitchens at midnight, he didn't like the way Alice was acting, though he couldn't blame her.  
  
"Dobby has something for Harry Potter," Dobby said importantly. Harry watched as Dobby took off one sock and pulled out a shiny green orb.  
  
"Dobby... that's Professor Tonks'!" Harry said shocked.  
  
"No. Tonks lady said Dobby could keep the Green Orb," Dobby said.  
  
"What does it do?" Alice asked taking the orb and running it through her fingers. It was as small as a marble and trying to hover but Alice had a firm grip on it.  
  
"It's a Green Orb. Dobby does not know how it works or what it does, pretty lady," Dobby explained.  
  
"Here is your chocolate cake," said a house elf, turning up at Alice's side. Alice took the cake and gave Harry the orb.  
  
"Thank you," Alice said.  
  
"Now you must be going. Go on, get out of the kitchens," said the house elf, shooing them out through the portrait hole.  
  
"Harry Potter will visit Dobby again yes?" Dobby asked as Alice and Harry put on their Invisibility Cloak.  
  
"Yes, Dobby. We won't forget," Alice promised kissing the house elf on the forehead.  
  
Dobby smiled and started playing with his socks.  
  
"Kissing house elves?" Harry teased as they got out of the portrait hole.  
  
"He called me pretty lady," Alice said dreamily.  
  
If that's all it takes...Harry thought. 


	2. Petreska Cotronus and the Nightmare Oil

Part Two:  
  
Petreska Cotronus  
and the  
Nightmare Oil  
  
"Harry, Harry!" Colin Creevy yelled making his way down the house table.  
  
"Hi Colin," Harry greeted eating a piece of bacon. It was breakfast time in the Great Hall and Harry was half asleep from staying up late eating the cake with Alice.  
  
"Harry, when are Quidditch tryouts?" Colin asked.  
  
Harry stared blankly at Colin. Quidditch tryouts?? he repeated in his mind. Then it hit him. He had forgotten that he was Quidditch Captain.  
  
"Uh.. um.. Saturday, 1:00. I'll post it up in the Common Room," Harry said.  
  
"I'm going to try out," said a voice behind Harry. Harry looked around to see Ginny.  
  
"Ginny, you're not good at Chaser, I've seen you play," Ron spoke up snobbishly.  
  
"Who said I wanted to be Chaser? I'm going to be Beater," Ginny said smiling. Ron's mouth dropped.  
  
"You can't be Beater!" Ron almost yelled in annoyance.  
  
"Who says I can't? Just because most Beaters are boys... Well I want to be a Beater," Ginny informed crossing her arms.  
  
"Uh... Ginny... don't you think you're a bit... uh..." Harry said trying to find the right words.  
  
"Small? Harry I'm 15 years old!" Ginny said, her face turning red in anger.  
  
"Yes, well, not small, just... weak," Harry said. Ron laughed. Ginny's eyes narrowed.  
  
"I didn't say I was Miss Universe. All you have to do is bat a Bludger. It's not that hard you know. Doesn't require lots of strength," Ginny explained.  
  
Harry looked at Hermione who was deep in her book.  
  
"Yes it does Ginny! You're NOT going to be Beater and I'm going to make sure of that," Ron said.  
  
Ginny stuck her tongue out at Ron and then stormed back to her seat.  
  
Suddenly, owls swooped down on the Great Hall. Hedwig landed on Harry's pancakes.  
  
Harry took the note tied to Hedwig's leg and read it quickly.  
  
Harry  
  
Do you, Ron, and Hermione want to visit me for tea this afternoon? You can come down at 5:00, send Hedwig with a note.  
  
Hagrid  
  
But before Harry could even start to write a reply, Alice screamed.  
  
Harry looked over at her and was completely shocked. In her hand was a red envelope, none other than a Howler.  
  
Alice was too horrified to open it.  
  
"Who's it from Alice?" Ron whispered as everyone in the Great Hall turned to see what was the matter.  
  
"My... my dad," Alice gulped.  
  
"You'd better open it quick Alice or else..." Ron started but the envelope already opened itself and starting talking.  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!!!!???" came the cold, harsh voice of Voldemort. It was magnified about a hundred times though. Harry looked at Dumbledore who seemed red with anger.  
  
"HOW DARE YOU CHOOSE GRYFFINDOR!? YOU ARE THE HEIRESS OF SLYTHERIN YOU STUPID GIRL! HOW DARE YOU DEFY WHAT YOU ARE? RUNNING OFF TO HOGWARTS WITH DUMBLEDORE, RUNNING AROUND THE STUPID SCHOOL WITH POTTER! DO YOU THINK IT'S FUNNY? WELL YOU KNOW WHAT IS FUNNY? I'M GOING TO COME GET YOU WHENEVER I CAN, ALICE, AND WHEN I DO, YOU'RE GOING TO BE IN FOR EVEN MORE THAN A GROUNDING. YOU CAN BET YOUR LIFE ON IT."  
  
The letter burst into flame and then fell into ashes. Harry looked around the room. Everyone was in complete shock. Some were scared. One Hufflepuff girl started to cry. Dumbledore was in complete rage.  
  
Harry looked at Alice. She looked like she was glued on the spot. Everyone was staring at her, expecting her to say or do something. Suddenly Dumbledore appeared at her side and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and got up and walked out of the Great Hall.  
  
"You too Harry," Dumbledore said as he passed Harry's chair. Harry got up and followed Dumbledore and Alice out into the Entrance Hall.  
  
**** Dumbledore started to lead the way to his office. Alice was staring straight ahead of her, still shook up.  
  
"You alright?" Harry asked.  
  
Alice didn't answer, but kept staring ahead of her.  
  
They reached the statue in front of Dumbledore's office.  
  
"Petreska Cotronus," he said. Harry looked at Dumbledore and was surprised to see that he was smiling.  
  
They stepped on the spiral staircase and waited impatiently as it slowly started to turn. Finally they reached the door to Dumbledore's office and they stepped in.  
  
"Have a seat you two," Dumbledore offered, waving a hand suggestively at two chairs in front of his desk.  
  
Alice immediately took a seat and put her face in her hands. Harry took a seat also but he was sitting as if ready to stand up again at any moment.  
  
"Let me see that orb Harry," Dumbledore said. Harry thought for a moment and realized he meant the Green Orb he got from Dobby last night.  
  
"How did you..." Harry started but Dumbledore waved an impatient hand.  
  
"What I know would surprise even you Harry," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling. "Now if you don't mind... The Orb?"  
  
Harry reached into his robes and took out the Orb and placed it in Dumbledore's hand.  
  
"Ah yes. Tonks told me about this Orb," Dumbledore said inspecting it the marble sized ball.  
  
"What does it do, Professor?" Harry asked curiously admiring the strange object.  
  
"It's not what it does, Harry, it's what it doesn't do," Dumbledore said, turning his gaze from the Orb to Harry.  
  
Harry stared at Dumbledore confused.  
  
"What doesn't it do?" Harry said, going along with the Headmaster's game.  
  
"It doesn't allow anything dark to harm it's owner. Unfortunately this Orb doesn't belong to anyone in Hogwarts," Dumbledore said allowing the Orb to hover around his hand.  
  
"Isn't it Tonks' Orb?" Harry asked.  
  
"No, it's Alice's Grandmother's Orb," Dumbledore said. Alice looked up.  
  
"My Grandma's?" Alice repeated slowly.  
  
"Yes. Your Grandmother is the maker of this Orb Alice. So rightfully it is yours. Very interesting indeed," Dumbledore said. He handed Alice the Orb and she stared at it confused.  
  
"My mother said that..." Alice began. Dumbledore again interrupted.  
  
"That your Grandmother left nothing to her except the tapestry," Dumbledore provided. "She gave this to her other daughter, your aunt, Thorn."  
  
"How come she never told my mother?" Alice asked angrily.  
  
"She thought that your mother would get angry with her for something she couldn't control," Dumbledore explained. "Now when Thorn died, she left this to someone. Would you care to guess who?" Dumbledore asked.  
  
Alice thought for a moment.  
  
"Ri..." Alice said slowly.  
  
"Exactly," Dumbledore said. "Ri was going to give this to you when she was put into Azkaban, but it ended up with Tonks. Tonks has had it ever since, but since it was never given to her, it's useless. And even if she had, the Orb only works on direct descendant of the maker."  
  
Harry was completely lost. Thorn... Ri? Who were these people?  
  
"So... it's mine? What am I supposed to do with it?" she wondered.  
  
"Keep it in your possession. I feel that you'll find out the rest of this story by Tonks. You may go back to classes now," Dumbledore said.  
  
"Wait... why was I here then?" Harry asked confused.  
  
"Oh yes... of course. Harry, I want you to keep constant watch over Alice," Dumbledore instructed.  
  
"I don't need a babysitter !" Alice cried.  
  
"You'll find out why he needs to be with you a little later. Be patient Alice," Dumbledore said calmly.  
  
Harry and Alice looked at each other. Alice shrugged and put the Orb in her pockets and then followed Harry back to the spiral staircase.  
  
"Oh and the next time you two visit the kitchens, be sure to give the house elves my compliments on the feast," Dumbledore called after them.  
  
****  
  
They started walking to Divination. They were quiet for the first five minutes.  
  
"Er... Harry?" Alice said quietly looking at him softly. Harry's body tingled as he looked at her. Even though she had Voldemort's eyes they were wide and blue, a light blue that made her eyes glitter.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Why do u think Dumbledore wanted you to look over me?" she asked.  
  
"No idea," he said. He tried not to look at her.  
  
The finally got to the North Tower and started to climb up the ladder that appeared in front of them.  
  
They came in the class and automatically Alice started to cough violently.  
  
"What... is this...smell??" she coughed.  
  
"Harry! Alice! What took you so long? What did Dumbledore want to talk about?" Ron asked Alice and Harry as they sat next to them and Neville.  
  
"I'll tell you later," Harry replied.  
  
Welcome to Divination 6th years, I see we have a new student," said a misty voice behind a huge armchair that was facing the wall. Alice gasped. The chair turned around. A woman who was very skinny and was wearing glasses, which were too big for her face, was in that chair. Ahh, you must be Alice Riddle, yes I can see," said Proffesor Trelawny.  
  
"You're a Seer right?" Alice asked suspiciously.  
  
"Why yes I am," said Trelawny in her misty voice.  
  
"Ok then what is my future," Alice asked in a know-it-all voice.  
  
"The Seer cannot see on command, but I do see something," Trelawny said darkly.  
  
"Oh yeah, what is it?" snorted Alice.  
  
"You will die an early death."  
  
Alice's eyes narrowed, which made her look like Voldemort in a way, but instead of being scared she snorted again. Neville whimpered and Ron's eyebrows raised.  
  
****  
  
"Die an early death?" Alice mimicked. She rolled her eyes as they made their way down the ladder. "Rubbish!"  
  
"You should take what Trelawny says seriously, Alice ," Lavender Brown warned.  
  
"Don't worry Alice, I was supposed to die in my third year," Harry said trying to cheer Alice up. He could tell that Alice was a bit shook up still from the Voldemort Howler.  
  
"What do we have next?" Alice asked trying to change the subject.  
  
"Charms, and then Transfiguration," Ron said consulting his timetable.  
  
"Oh right, I have to send a letter to Hagrid," Harry suddenly remembered as they walked down a long corridor to the Charms room.  
  
"You're going to Hagrid's?" Ron asked.  
  
"Yes, he wants me to bring you and Hermione," Harry informed.  
  
"So what exactly did Dumbledore say?" Ron asked curiously after awhile of silence.  
  
"That I have to watch Alice, and that Alice is not supposed to let the Green Orb out of sight," Harry mumbled.  
  
"Green Orb?" Ron said.  
  
"Yes, it's this little ball thing here," Alice said reaching into her pockets and producing the hovering ball.  
  
"Wow! I've heard of those! Where'd you get it?" Ron asked amazed.  
  
"Dobby," Alice said showing off the Orb. She twiddled it through her thumbs and let it hover just above her pinky finger, putting on a show for Ron.  
  
"Wow!" Ron breathed.  
  
"Yes so about Hagrid's. Are you coming Ron?" Harry asked, trying to get back Ron's attention from Alice.  
  
"Oh yes of course," Ron mumbled, staring at the Orb.  
  
"Who's Hagrid?" Alice asked putting the Orb back safely in her pockets.  
  
"A friend," Harry said. He didn't want to speak to Alice. Every time he did he had a strange twinge in his stomach that he was starting to dislike.  
  
"Can I come too?" Alice asked sweetly.  
  
"Well... you don't really know him..." Ron started uncomfortably.  
  
"Harry's not supposed to let me out of his sight ," Alice reminded grinning.  
  
"Fine, you can come," Harry gave in staring straight ahead of him.  
  
"Oh good!" Alice chirped happily.  
  
"I can't wait until Defense Against the Dark Arts," Ron said as they opened the door to the Charms room and sat down.  
  
"Why?" Harry asked taking a seat in-between Ron and Hermione.  
  
"Because, we're going to learn the Cruciatus curse!" Ron said merrily.  
  
Neville turned around angrily, opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it and turned back to Professor Flitwick.  
  
Harry turned to look at Hermione, he wasn't seeing very much of her and he was surprised at what he saw.  
  
There were bags under her eyes, and her hair was more frizzy than usual. Harry's eyes narrowed in suspicion.  
  
"Hermione, are you all right?" Harry asked lightly.  
  
Hermione looked over at Harry and nodded.  
  
"You sure?" Harry asked again.  
  
"Yes Harry!" Hermione said angrily.  
  
"Well, if you want to, you can come with us to meet Hagrid," Harry offered gently.  
  
"Yes, fine, whatever!" she said in disinterest.  
  
****  
  
"Some one woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Ron whispered to Alice and Harry.  
  
"You should actually see her when she does wake up," snorted Alice.  
  
They all stared at Hermione. Her nose was in her book, which she turned every half minute.  
  
"You know, she has been acting odd," said Harry suspiciously.  
  
****  
  
"Well if we're going to go meet Hagrid then are we going to go now?" said Alice after dinner.  
  
The all started to walk to Hagrid's. Alice and Ron were in a conversation about dragons because her uncle also worked in Romania, but she lost touch which him, like most of her family. Harry was walking next to Ron, every so often looking back at Hermione, who was walking behind them with a frown on her face, trying to put her bushy brown hair behind her ears every couple seconds.  
  
Ron knocked on the door.  
  
"Hello?" said Hagrid. He opened the door.  
  
The walked in and sat down at the table.  
  
"How are you Hagrid?" asked Hermione earnestly as they sat down.  
  
"Good good, how have you been? Oh and who is this?" he said suddenly noticing Alice.  
  
"Er... Alice Riddle," said Alice quietly.  
  
Hagrid looked at her then blinked.  
  
"I knew yeh father, got me expelled that one did," sighed Hagrid.  
  
"You... you knew my dad?" said Alice nervously.  
  
"Yup, blamed me fer killin' a girl with a spider I was raisin' in the castle, ruddy coward," snorted Hagrid.  
  
"So how have you all been this summer?" he asked them.  
  
"Fine," they said in a chorus.  
  
"Hagrid, how's your little brother?" asked Hermione.  
  
"Loads better!" said Hagrid, "He can speak pretty good. He doesn' hit me when he sees me, either!"  
  
"Wow," said Harry.  
  
It was true. Hagrid didn't have any scratches or bruises at all.  
  
"Well yeh better get goin' now, 'bye," said Hagrid shooing them out.  
  
They walked back to the Common Room.  
  
"He seems nice, what was he talking about his little brother? How was he hurting him?" Alice asked curiously.  
  
"Well Hagrid's half giant. His mother was a Giantess, and his brother is a giant. Grawp kept hurting Hagrid, from the looks of it, he is loads better mannered," Harry explained.  
  
****  
  
Harry woke up the next day from a knock on the dormitory door. He glanced over at his clock. 7:00...  
  
He heard Seamus get up and go to the door. He heard a creak, and then decided to see who it was himself. He pulled the curtains of his four- poster aside and looked at the door.  
  
"Harry? Hurry up! Let's go down to breakfast!" Alice said poking her head through the door.  
  
"It doesn't start for a half hour!" Harry reminded angrily.  
  
"I want to get there early," Alice said crossing her arms. "It's better when you get there early you know. Know one's in there! No one watches you when you take your seat! I would go myself but... Dumbledore said you have to be with me," Alice practically screamed, looking off to the side.  
  
"I'm pretty sure you can walk down the Great Hall yourself without me," Harry replied.  
  
"For god sakes Harry! Just go!" came Ron's voice in the next four-poster.  
  
Harry got up slowly and then glared at Alice. I'm not her servant boy! Just because princess Alice wants to go and sit down for a half hour, doesn't mean I have too... "I have to dress," Harry said through gritted teeth at Alice. Alice blushed and then closed the door giggling. Harry rolled his eyes and pulled out a pair of Robes from his suitcase. He dressed as slowly as possible and then finally went down to the common room.  
  
"About time," Alice said smiling.  
  
Harry wanted to yell at her, scream at her, and tear out her hair in anger, but when she smiled, he just put his hands in his pockets and nodded towards the portrait hole.  
  
They made their way quickly and quietly to the Great Hall and when they finally reached it, they saw that it wasn't empty after all.  
  
At the staff table sat Tonks, Snape and McGonagall who were all very deep in discussion. They looked up when they saw Harry and Alice enter the hall.  
  
Oh great... they still think Alice and I are together! Harry quickly sat down and Alice sat opposite him. She stared around the Great Hall and up at the ceiling which was cloudless and blue.  
  
Harry knew why Alice wanted to get there early, and he couldn't blame her and he wanted to smack himself for being so rude and cranky.  
  
She didn't like the fact that people stared at her, pointed at her, and whispered about her every time she was in a corridor, or entered a room. Harry knew what that felt like and felt really sorry for her.  
  
The Great Hall started to fill up slowly and soon plates appeared in front of them filled with food. Alice ate quietly and finished before Harry. Soon Ron, Hermione and Neville all entered the Great Hall and sat beside them.  
  
"I'm going to be in Defense Against the Dark Arts," Alice announced, getting up from the table.  
  
"I'll go too," Harry volunteered. He knew that he had to go also, Dumbledore's orders, and Dumbledore had looked up when Alice stood up.  
  
Hermione said something that sounded like an "okay", but was still staring intensely at her book. Ron and Neville looked at each other and shrugged.  
  
"Right Harry," Ron said eating some more bacon.  
  
"Thanks Harry," Alice said as they walked to the Classroom.  
  
"For what?" Harry asked confused.  
  
"For putting up with me. I know I've been selfish... but... I just don't like it when people stare at me. They immediately think that because I have a dad, I will go and join him whenever I feel like it, or tell him when I overhear one of their whispered conversations about how I'm evil and deceiving Dumbledore!" Alice said angrily.  
  
"It's alright. People thought I was a crazy, attention seeking, hero driven kid last year. And the year before that, they thought I put my name in the Goblet of Fire on purpose. So I know how it feels to be whispered at," Harry explained.  
  
Alice showed a faint smile and then started playing with her hands. They walked into the classroom and sat down, waiting for their teacher and classmates to join them.  
  
****  
  
"The Cruciatus curse," Tonks began, pacing around the room flicking her wand into her hand occasionally. "In my opinion the worst of the three. What it does... It puts the victim in a desire to just die than rather feel the pain..."  
  
Neville gulped and put his head on his hands.  
  
"Does anyone know what it feels like? Harry... I know you've been through it a couple of times..." Tonks suggested. All the eyes of the class turned to look at Harry who froze to the spot.  
  
"It feels..." Harry started looking for the right words. "It feels like a thousand, hot knives stabbing into your body," Harry said quietly.  
  
"Sorry Harry, couldn't hear you," Tonks said, cupping her hand to her ear.  
  
"I said," Harry said a bit louder and angrier. "That it feels like a thousand, hot knives stabbing into you all over your body."  
  
"That's a good way to describe it," Tonks said awkwardly. "Well today... you'll be doing the Cruciatus curse... Just a little hint of it. Here are your spiders," Tonks said pulling out another bag of spiders. She walked around the classroom, putting spiders on all of the desks, and then went back up to her desk and began watching everyone.  
  
"The key to this curse. Extreme hate, loathing... desire to make the victim feel the pain that you have. You won't be very good at this curse if you love everyone and everything..." Tonks explained. "Alright, so I want you all to look at your spider and start thinking of a sad or hurtful memory... even someone you hate, try imagining that face on the spider. This is a curse that was designed in hate, so you need to feel hate to use it."  
  
Harry blinked at his spider. Then what he had been dreading to think about came into his mind. I have to think about Sirius... it's the only way , a voice inside said. NO! I will not think about Sirius , said another defiantly.  
  
But Harry agreed with the first voice and looked at the spider, imagining Bellatrix's face on his spider. You killed my godfather... you killed your own cousin! Now you're going to pay!  
  
"Now say Crucio," Tonks said in a hushed voice, watching as everyone thought of a hurtful memory.  
  
" CRUCIO! " Harry screamed a bit louder than he intended. The spider in front of him immediately started shaking and convulsing. Why couldn't I do that when I faced the REAL Bellatrix? Harry thought glumly. Then he realized his spider was still shaking... it looked ready to burst.  
  
"How do I make it stop??" Harry asked hurriedly.  
  
"Take pity, make yourself want to stop it," Tonks explained.  
  
But Harry couldn't stop it, he wanted Bellatrix to feel more pain. He wanted her to die just like his godfather.  
  
Stop, stop! said a voice in his head. Never! She's got to feel the pain. She's got to learn... Harry's eyes widened. He couldn't stop it. The spider started shaking even more, and Harry just stared at it horrified.  
  
"Avada Kedavra," Tonks whispered at Harry's spider.  
  
Harry looked up at her, then quickly looked away in shame. He had lost control...  
  
He shook his head and then stared around the classroom. Neville hadn't even touched his spider, apparently to afraid to do the curse. He looked on the verge of tears. Harry looked at Ron who had a sickly evil look on his face.  
  
"Die, die! Stupid spider!" Ron said gleefully watching his spider twist and wrench and convulse on his desk.  
  
Hermione was having trouble with her spider. "Professor... my spider's broken," Hermione said.  
  
"You're spider's not broken Hermione. You're just not thinking of a bad enough experience," Tonks informed.  
  
"Yes I am! I'm thinking of my worst experience," Hermione said defiantly.  
  
"What is it?" Tonks asked.  
  
Hermione hesitated and looked around the classroom and then finally said quietly, "A dream I've been having."  
  
"Ah, of course. Dreams don't count Hermione, it has to be a real experience, real hate, real desire to put the spider in pure pain," Tonks explained.  
  
Harry then looked over at Alice. She seemed to look like Neville. She couldn't do the curse.  
  
"What's the matter Alice? I would think that you'd be able to do the curse good," Tonks said coming over to Alice.  
  
"I won't do it... I'm not going to harm an innocent creature just because something bad happened to me," Alice said shaking her head.  
  
"But it's going to be on the exam," Tonks said lightly.  
  
"WHAT!? THAT'S NOT FAIR!" Hermione screamed in fear.  
  
"Are you sure you don't want to?" Tonks asked ignoring Hermione's outcry.  
  
"Yes," Alice said pushing the spider away from her.  
  
"Me too! Professor Tonks! Me neither, I don't want to do it!" Neville said urgently waving his hand in the air trying to get Tonks' attention.  
  
"Yes, of course Neville," Tonks said putting Alice's spider in the bag and going over to Neville.  
  
Alice looked at Harry.  
  
"I saw your spider..." Alice said and smiled faintly.  
  
"Yea... guess I wanted to do it more than I imagined," Harry shrugged.  
  
"Ron, leave the spider alone now!" Alice said looking over at Ron.  
  
"No..." Ron said, a maniacal look in his eyes. He still had the spider under the Cruciatus curse and was loving it more than candy.  
  
"Accio Spider," Alice said pointing her wand at Ron's spider. Ron looked over at Alice and his eyes narrowed.  
  
"Give me my spider back!" He growled.  
  
"No!" Alice said covering the spider in her hands.  
  
"Give it back!" Ron repeated angrily.  
  
"Make me," Alice said just as angrily. Ron thought for a moment and then decided to act on it.  
  
"Stupe..."  
  
"Ron! Just what do you think you are doing?" Tonks yelled angrily snatching Ron's wand away from him.  
  
"She stole my spider Professor!" Ron explained stubbornly.  
  
"He was going crazy! You saw him Nymph... I mean Professor! He was putting the poor spider under that curse for 5 minutes straight!" Alice tattled still clutching the spider.  
  
"It's a spider... it deserves to die!" Ron said angrily.  
  
"Nothing deserves to die!" Alice retorted.  
  
"That's enough you two. 2 points from Gryffindor for this stupid behavior. Ron, you don't curse people in this class unless under instructions from me. And Alice, you don't get into other people's businesses, now give me that spider," Tonks said.  
  
****  
  
"Hey Harry, do you want to go onto the Quidditch pitch to practice?" Ron asked at dinner.  
  
"Sure! I need to test my Firebolt... see if it's still good," Harry agreed happily, eating a pork chop.  
  
"Harry... you can't go," Alice said, staring at Ron smugly.  
  
"Oh... oh right..." Harry said sighing. Why is she so into me being around her? Just to make me mad I bet...  
  
"Oh come on Harry! She'll be alright in the Common Room by herself. She doesn't need you with her 24/7," Ron whined. He didn't even look at Harry, but he looked at Alice. He still hadn't forgiven her for what happened in Defense Against the Dark Arts.  
  
"Dumbledore's orders, Ron, unless you want to go against the Headmaster's wishes. I'll inform him immediately that someone has been disloyal..." Alice said grinning.  
  
Ron opened his mouth to say something but Hermione stopped him.  
  
"Both of you just be quiet!" Hermione said looking at her book. "You three can go onto the Quidditch pitch," she suggested.  
  
"I will not go if she comes," Ron said stubbornly.  
  
"Oh, Ron, I never knew that you were such a baby! The big bad Awice is going to go onto the Qwidditch pitch with Harry and I... boo hoo " Hermione mimicked in a baby voice. Ron's ears turned red, and Harry wasn't sure if it was in embarrassment or anger.  
  
"Fine..." Ron gave in through gritted teeth.  
  
"Excellent," Alice grinned.  
  
****  
  
Ron and Harry began walking to the Common Room to get their broomsticks and Alice walked in front of them, trying to avoid Ron.  
  
"Come on Harry, let's ditch her!" Ron urged as Alice rounded a corner.  
  
"I can't Ron. Dumbledore's orders," Harry reminded for the millionth time.  
  
"Come on! She can live without you for an hour! We'll grab our broomsticks and then ditch her at the South Tower and then just fly to the Quidditch pitch!" Ron said cleverly.  
  
"I don't know Ron... Dumbledore looked really serious when he said I should stay around her," Harry said nervously.  
  
"Yes... well... Dumbledore didn't say every minute of the day! She sleeps without you, ya know!" Ron pleaded.  
  
"Alright, if it'll shut you up!" Harry gave in. They walked silently the rest of the way to the Common Room.  
  
"We'll just get our broomsticks," Ron said, scratching his head.  
  
"Fine," Alice said rolling her eyes.  
  
"Um, you might want to change Alice. It's a bit cold out there," Harry suggested.  
  
"No, it looks really hot out actually..." Alice said staring over at the window to the crystal blue sky.  
  
"Oh no! Trust me, it's supposed to be really windy. Weather here is just so unreliable," Ron explained. Alice looked at him coldly.  
  
"Alright then," Alice said turning on her heel. Harry and Ron raced upstairs and quickly grabbed their broomsticks and ran back down the stairs. They scrambled through the portrait hole and turned sharply down the corridor.  
  
"Almost... there..." Ron panted as they reached the spiral staircase to the South Tower. They ran quickly up the steps and then emerged outside.  
  
"I don't know about this Ron..." Harry said. He had a bad feeling that disobeying Dumbledore was going to have a bad consequence.  
  
"Nonsense Harry! Alice will be fine! She's a big girl. Now race you to the pitch!" Ron said mounting his broomstick.  
  
Harry smiled and pushed away his guilty conscience as he mounted his broomstick and kicked off towards the Quidditch pitch. He easily won the race with his Firebolt and waited at the pitch for Ron.  
  
They began racing around the pitch, practicing dives and moves and discussed strategies on their brooms for an hour until Neville appeared breathless on the pitch calling them down.  
  
"What's he saying?" Ron asked trying to hear what Neville was saying.  
  
"Let's go down and see," Harry suggested and he broke into a spectacular dive towards Neville and pulled out quickly.  
  
"What is it Neville?" Harry asked, he didn't like the horrific look on his face.  
  
"Harry... Alice... attacked... 'Mione," Neville said breathlessly.  
  
"What? Hermione?" Ron asked landing beside them.  
  
"Yes... come... with... me," Neville said tugging on Harry's robes. But Harry grabbed his broomstick and sped at the speed of light towards the castle, landing on the steps. He opened the front doors and saw a crowd circled in the Entrance Hall.  
  
He didn't need to push his way through, everyone made way for him as he walked to the center of the circle. He emerged in the small opening and what he saw horrified him.  
  
Hermione was laying on the ground, out cold, her book clutched in her hands. There was Alice, screaming and spitting and pulling at her head.  
  
"Alice! What happened?" Harry screamed at her. Alice immediately stopped her fit and had a blank look on her face.  
  
"Harry?" she asked confused. She looked at the floor and her hand came to her mouth. "Hermione!" she screamed going onto her knees. "Wha... I don't understand..." Alice said trying to shake her awake.  
  
"What's going on here?" came a booming voice. Dumbledore emerged from the crowd, Snape and McGonagall at his heels.  
  
"Alice attacked Hermione headmaster!" came a cold voice. Harry looked around to see Malfoy strutting into the opening. "I saw it all! She started screaming at Hermione and then she took out her wand and did the Cruciatus curse on her. But something went wrong and Hermione didn't come out of the Cruciatus curse and she just passed out," Malfoy explained.  
  
Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing and he stared at Alice in shock and horror.  
  
"She's evil!" came Lavender Brown's voice from the crowd.  
  
"I didn't do it!" Alice screamed. "It wasn't me!"  
  
"We all saw it Alice," Pavarti said. "Dumbledore you should expel her!"  
  
There was an uproar in agreement and Alice froze to the spot. "I didn't..." she tried to scream but was overpowered by a chant erupting from the crowd.  
  
"Alice is a monster, send her to her father!" they chanted.  
  
"ENOUGH!" Dumbledore yelled and everyone went silent.  
  
Alice shook her head and backed away from Hermione and then looked at her wand and then to Harry. She shook her head again and then ran off crying down the hall.  
  
Dumbledore fought the urge to go after her but then looked at Harry.  
  
"You weren't supposed to leave her Harry," Dumbledore said in disappointment.  
  
Harry felt extremely guilty.  
  
"Go and find her, then bring her to my office. I have some explaining to do..." Dumbledore said turning. He made his way out of the crowd and saw Madam Pomfrey bustling into the crowd.  
  
He looked at Hermione.  
  
Ron suddenly came into the crowd with Neville and he was out of breathe. He looked at Harry then to Hermione and then at everyone in the crowd.  
  
"What happened?" Ron asked, his eyes wide.  
  
"Alice," Harry said, then he turned and ran after her. Ron ran also, a foot behind Harry. Harry followed the muffled cries and opened a tapestry, where there was a secret room. He stepped in and saw Alice there, her hands in her hair sobbing uncontrollably.  
  
"YOU!" Ron roared stepping into the room behind Harry.  
  
Alice looked up and then stopped crying. She stood up shaking and then tried to look at the floor.  
  
"YOU DID THAT TO HERMIONE!" Ron said. "I SHOULD'VE KNOWN YOU WERE EVIL!"  
  
"Calm down Ron," Harry warned, then he turned to Alice.  
  
"What happened Alice?" Harry asked calmly.  
  
Alice looked at the tapestry door and then back at Harry.  
  
"I didn't attack her Harry," she said firmly.  
  
"RUBBISH! EVERYONE SAW YOU!" Ron yelled and Harry put his hand up to silence him.  
  
"Then who did?" Harry asked.  
  
"I don't know. All I remember was coming down the stairs to the Common Room and finding it empty and then I didn't know where you were so I thought you'd be in the Entrance Hall going to the Quidditch pitch with Ron. I met Hermione and she started talking about how she was having this weird nightmare thing from taking something called Nightmare Oil, and then I don't know what happened. It went blurry. This voice inside me said "she's lying to you," and then I took out my wand and then the voice said "kill her," and so I tried to but then another voice said, "don't kill her," and so I was confused and then next thing I know I'm doing the Cruciatus curse and then the voices started arguing in my head and they started yelling at me. One was yelling at me to run, hide, get out of there, and the other said to stay and that everything would be okay and I didn't know what to think! And then all of a sudden they stopped and then I saw you there Harry and then I saw Hermione on the ground and..." she sobbed. She burst into tears and fell to the floor.  
  
"STOP MAKING UP STORIES YOU EVIL WITCH! NOTHING INNOCENT SHOULD BE TORTURED HEY? WHY'D YOU REALLY DO THAT TO HERMIONE!" Ron yelled. Alice just started crying harder and Ron flung himself next to Alice and started shaking her. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT!" he screamed.  
  
"RON STOP IT!" Harry said pulling Ron away from Alice.  
  
"SHE HURT HERMIONE HARRY!" Ron said bewildered.  
  
"She didn't mean to," Harry started. He didn't know why he believed Alice but he just did.  
  
"YOU BELIEVE HER? SHE HURT OUR BEST FRIEND AND YOU BELIEVE HER?" Ron asked incredulously.  
  
"Yes," Harry said quietly.  
  
Ron looked from Alice to Harry and then back to Alice. "I see what's going on..." he said, his eyes narrowing. "You're both in on this together..."  
  
"Ron that's ridiculous," Harry tried to reason. Ron backed away and started walking backwards out of the tapestry.  
  
"You'd better hope that Hermione's alright," Ron threatened and left.  
  
"Harry, I didn't..." Alice repeated.  
  
"I know..." Harry said taking a seat next to Alice. There was a moment of silence and then Alice suddenly spoke.  
  
"This isn't the first time..." Alice said looking at Harry.  
  
"What do you mean?" Harry asked confused.  
  
"Never mind."  
  
"No tell me."  
  
"You won't understand..."  
  
"Then explain!"  
  
Alice hesitated and then seemed to crack open. "I killed my Aunt Harry! I killed her! Thorn! I killed her! My mom knew too..." Alice screamed.  
  
Harry didn't know what to say. "Why?" he finally asked.  
  
"I didn't mean to though! I didn't. I was 10 and the voices started again and the voice that tells me to kill made me kill my cat when it scratched me and then my Aunt Thorn put me under the Cruciatus curse as a punishment because she was babysitting that day. The voice told me to kill her and I did. I killed without my wand Harry... I don't know how I did it... My mom knew I did it too and she said I couldn't go to Hogwarts because I would kill there too..." Alice explained. She started crying again.  
  
"Let's go see Dumbledore," Harry said immediately.  
  
"He knows Harry!" Alice said grabbing his robes to pull him back down to the ground.  
  
"How do you know?" Harry asked.  
  
"Because I told him," Alice mumbled.  
  
"Okay, well I'll go get him," Harry said, trying to stand up again.  
  
"NO!" Alice screamed pulling him back down again. "Don't leave me again. When you're with me... the... the voices are gone! I haven't gone that long without hearing the voices," Alice said nervously.  
  
"Then let's go see Dumbledore. He probably knows what's going on," Harry said.  
  
"Can... can we just... you know... sit here for a minute?" Alice asked blushing.  
  
Harry looked at Alice. She had a tear stained face, and her crystal blue eyes had turned dark. She looked on the verge of tears again. He nodded.  
  
After a moment of silence, Alice started crying again.  
  
"I didn't mean to Harry! And now the whole school thinks that I attacked Hermione. I would never attack anyone or anything," Alice tried to explain. She cried even harder and Harry found himself very uncomfortable. He had an urge to hug her, to tell her that it would be all right... to kiss her... But he held back, maybe she didn't want to be hugged, maybe she wanted to be by herself. But before he could do anything she threw her arms around his neck and started crying on his shoulder.  
  
They didn't need to talk... they just sat there. Harry lost count of time and just held Alice, stroking her hair and comforting her. Alice eventually stopped crying but didn't pull away from Harry and he was glad. He didn't want to leave. He wanted to sit there with Alice for the rest of his life. He wanted this moment to last forever.  
  
****  
  
"Well well well."  
  
Harry burst back to life and looked around the small room. Where am I? he asked himself. Then he saw Alice sleeping on his chest.  
  
"Have a nice nap, Potter?" said a voice from the door. Harry knew that voice all too well and groaned. He looked up and saw his worst nightmare standing in front of him. Snape.  
  
"The Headmaster wishes that you see him," Snape said ignoring Harry's mumbles of hate.  
  
"Tell Dumbledore I'll be there shortly," Harry said putting on a fake smile. Snape gave Harry the look of purest loathing and turned towards the tapestry door.  
  
"Alice... Alice wake up," Harry said shaking Alice. Alice's eyes snapped awake and she sat up immediately. "Alice, we have to go see Dumbledore," Harry informed. He got up and stretched and then helped Alice to her feet.  
  
"Okay," Alice agreed and they pushed aside the tapestry and out into the corridor. They walked silently to Dumbledore's office. Harry didn't want to look at Alice... he didn't want to hear her say thanks or anything like that. He just wanted to find out what was going on. What were these voices Alice was hearing?  
  
They reached the statue and Harry thought for a moment, trying to remember what Dumbledore had said the other morning. "Petreska Cotronus?" Harry said uncertainly and he must've guessed right because the spiral staircase came into view and they stepped onto it and waited for it to reach the office door. They knocked and waited for a reply.  
  
"Come in," came Dumbledore's voice.  
  
Harry and Alice stepped into the office nervously.  
  
"What's going on Dumbledore?" Harry demanded immediately.  
  
Dumbledore didn't look happy or angry, but more worried.  
  
"Sit down you two. I need to explain something that requires full attention," Dumbledore said. Harry slowly sat down and Alice sat down next to him.  
  
"What's going on with Alice? Why can she hear voices?" Harry asked angrily.  
  
Dumbledore sighed. "I'd like to ask you, Harry, to save your questions until I'm finished telling you a story," Dumbledore instructed.  
  
Harry gave Dumbledore a suspicious look, but closed his mouth anyway.  
  
"In the Ancient times of the wizarding world, there lived two twin witches. One named Benita, and one named Desdemona. Benita was good and kind and like her sister, very powerful in magic. Her sister was mean and cruel and only wished for one thing: to rule the world. They both had daughters, and both hated each other immensely and were almost exactly the same, other than the fact that they had different intentions. Desdemona wanted to rule the world, but she couldn't because Benita was just as powerful and would stop her, so Desdemona created a powerful evil curse to kill her sister. The curse was called Hevolto Torlentaro. Benita knew this was coming though and she made her own curse... Petreska Cotronus. The two curses collided and they both died. They were only 16 and they died."  
  
"So what does that have to do with Alice?" Harry asked impatiently.  
  
"Everything Harry! Benita and Desdemona's curse both made them live on through their descendants. Only people who are descendants of the sisters can do the curses... Alice is a direct descendant of both. Her father's mother was a direct descendant of Desdemona and her mother was a direct descendant of Benita. The two live inside her, they control her. It's a constant battle between evil and good inside her," Dumbledore explained slowly.  
  
"So why whenever I'm around her, the voices stop?" Harry asked.  
  
"Harry, your mother put the Petreska Cotronus curse on you before she died. The Petreska Cotronus stops evil from touching you, which is what Benita needed for Desdemona was pure evil. Hevolto Torlentaro harms good... the two curses are extremely ancient and powerful," Dumbledore said.  
  
"But you just said only descendants of the sisters can do the curse. My mother was muggleborn," Harry said slowly. He didn't get any of this.  
  
"She was muggleborn yes, but her great grandmother, your great, great, grandmother, was a descendant of Benita so your mother could do the curse. It's only women who can do the curse," Dumbledore explained.  
  
"Since you have the curse in you, Alice can't be controlled by Benita or Desdemona. We don't exactly know why, but we know that it works, and you cannot go off again like that. You MUST stay with Alice. Under no circumstances should you leave her!" Dumbledore said.  
  
"Is that why Voldemort couldn't touch me?" Harry asked suddenly. "Because the curse doesn't allow evil to harm me?"  
  
"Yes. The Petreska Cotronus is pure good flowing through a person, stopping anything evil from harming anything. But since Voldemort has your blood in him, the curse no longer works and now he is protected from evil, which is weird because he IS evil," Dumbledore said.  
  
"But why me?" Alice cried suddenly.  
  
"Because, Alice. You are a descendant of BOTH! You come from evil and good. What better body to choose than one that is evil and good? Exactly what Benita and Desdemona are. When the curse backfired, they were bound eternally, so they couldn't possess a body that was just good or just evil, they needed both. You are the first one to have it in your blood," Dumbledore said gravely.  
  
Alice seemed confused but nodded anyway. "So, the voices I hear, they're Benita and Desdemona?" Alice asked uncertainly.  
  
"Yes. And Voldemort knows this. He wants to use you as a weapon, make you use the curses on him, make him even more powerful than ever. Invincible." Dumbledore warned.  
  
"So let me get this straight. The Petreska Cotronus is a curse that prevents evil from harming good, and the Hevolto Torlentaro is a curse that harms good? So if I have the Petreska Cotronus in me and so does Voldemort... does that mean that Alice has to use the Hevolto Torlentaro on him to make him invincible?" Harry asked slowly.  
  
"Yes... See because the two curses will clash together and the result won't be death like the sisters, but immortality," Dumbledore said.  
  
"But I would think that he would just return back to normal," Alice said.  
  
"That's a possibility since both curses would could easily wipe each other out. But that's a risk Voldemort's going to take," Dumbledore said. "Return to normal, or immortality, either way the curses won't kill him because of the balance in each other."  
  
Harry was completely confused. If Voldemort got hold of Alice, he would make her use the Hevolto Torlentaro on him to make him immortal, but it might backfire and just return him to normal because they were both equal curses, and when used against each other the powers would balance out and vanish. Or they would join together and Voldemort would be invincible.  
  
"But Voldemort can't hurt the good! I won't let him!" Alice said stubbornly.  
  
"The only thing we can do is wait," Dumbledore sighed.  
  
Alice nodded and looked at the floor.  
  
"You may go back to your dorms now. It's past midnight and you are probably hoping to get some rest," Dumbledore suggested.  
  
Harry got up and Alice did the same. They both said goodnight to Dumbledore and made their way back to the Gryffindor House.  
  
"Harry..." Alice said nervously, halfway down a corridor.  
  
"Yea?" Harry prompted.  
  
"Do you... not want to be around me?" she asked apprehensively.  
  
"I do, why?" Harry wondered.  
  
"Well, you just seemed eager to get rid of me today," Alice explained.  
  
"No. I like being around you," Harry admitted blushing slightly.  
  
"Me too," she said. She took Harry's hand in hers and they walked, hand in hand to the Gryffindor House.  
  
****  
  
Harry walked up to the Quidditch pitch, Alice right beside him, his Firebolt over his shoulder. It was right after lunch on Saturday and about a half hour before tryouts were to begin, but there was already a small crowd of people waiting for him. He looked over the crowd quickly and saw no sign of Ron, so decided to wait for him.  
  
Things with him and Ron weren't doing so well after the attack on Hermione and Harry was left with Alice every day. They went to see Hermione in the hospital wing every day and saw no signs of recovery, but they weren't giving up hope.  
  
When he arrived in front of the circle of people he heard whispers and groans about Alice. He had had it with the constant whispering about Alice in the halls and that Harry was still with Alice and all the nasty rumors floating around Hogwarts.  
  
"If any of you have a problem with Alice being here... leave now because she will be accompanying me at every Quidditch practice. Go on... leave now. No one wants to go?" Harry said calmly. No one left the group but they did roll their eyes and give nasty looks to Alice.  
  
"We still have to wait for Ron to get here, so if you want to impress me, do it now," Harry ordered. They didn't need telling twice. All of them mounted their broomsticks and raced around the Quidditch pitch doing dives and rolls in the air and some were even playing with the Quaffle.  
  
Harry looked down at the castle and saw two people emerge. Two red heads... it was Ron and Ginny. He waited impatiently as they strode up to him.  
  
"Let's hurry up and get these tryouts over with okay?" Ron said grumpily.  
  
"Right. COME DOWN!!" Harry called to the people in the air. They all landed right next to him.  
  
"We have 5 positions to fill and 15 people... 16 including Ginny... Alright here's how it's going to work. People who want to try out for Beaters, go off to the right. People who want to try out for Chasers, to your left," Harry instructed. He loved the power of being boss and it suited him well, he thought.  
  
4 people were left trying out for Beaters, while the other 12 were trying out for Chasers.  
  
Harry looked at the 4 and he rolled his eyes. "Ginny, go over to that side," Harry said pointing his thumb to the Chaser side.  
  
"No," said Ginny simply.  
  
"You try out for Chaser, or nothing," Harry said and Ron nodded his head in agreement.  
  
"That's so unfair!" Ginny whined in protest but Harry just pointed at the Chaser side and Ginny walked as slow as possible to the others.  
  
"Dean, Seamus and...?" Harry asked. There was a tall boy who was in the 7th year standing in-between Dean and Seamus.  
  
"Reggie Throne," said the boy.  
  
"Okay, you three, up in the air," Harry instructed. He pointed at Ron to let the Bludger out and Harry mounted his broomstick and met them in the air.  
  
"Ron's going to let out the Bludger, which has been bewitched by Madam Hooch to come after me. You will take turns batting it away and you'll be evaluated on strength, eye co-ordination, speed, and how far the Bludger goes. Ready?" Harry said swiftly.  
  
"Yes," they said loudly. Harry looked down at Ron and gave the thumbs up. Ron opened the case of balls and unleashed the Bludger. It zoomed right at Harry.  
  
"Seamus!" Harry yelled. Seamus came rushing in front of Harry and with a swing of the small club, the Bludger was sent whizzing towards the other end of the pitch. Harry was very impressed. "Dean you're up next," Harry said as the Bludger turned around and started after Harry again.  
  
Dean took the club from Seamus and then met the Bludger halfway, and he swung the club and hit the Bludger, getting it through one of the three hoops.  
  
That'd be good if there was a keeper there, Harry thought. "Right Reggie!" Harry called. Reggie sped up to the Bludger and instead of whacking it he moved aside giving the Bludger a clear way to Harry. Harry sped up on his Firebolt and landed on the ground. Dean and Seamus right behind him. Dean tackled the Bludger and put it in the case slowly.  
  
"Seamus, Dean, I can tell you right now that you're on the Quidditch team," Harry said. He shot a nasty look at Reggie and then made his way to the Chasers.  
  
"You'll go up in groups of 3. You have to get the Quaffle in the hoops with Ron as Keeper. If you do that, you're automatically going to be into the Quidditch team," Harry explained. Ron mounted his broomstick and took his place as Keeper up in the air.  
  
Harry sent them up in the air, making mental notes of their names and how they mounted. The first group to go up was Ginny, Lavender, and a 4th year boy named Alan.  
  
Ginny was first up and she got the Quaffle in just barely. Lavender went next, and was blocked by Ron, though Harry considered her to be still good. The boy named Alan didn't even get close to the three hoops when he dropped the Quaffle.  
  
The tryouts went well into the afternoon and by the time it was supper, Harry had only two more positions filled.  
  
He motioned Ron to come down.  
  
"Ginny and Colin were the only ones to get the Quaffle in," Harry said. "We need one more."  
  
Ron thought for a moment and then shrugged. "Maybe we should give them another go?"  
  
"Nah, let them go into supper. I'll stay here and decide," Harry said.  
  
Ron went over to the group. They all grumbled and started making their way to the castle.  
  
"So who's on the team?" Alice asked cheerfully as Harry watched them go.  
  
"Seamus and Dean are Beaters... Ginny and Colin are the Chasers," Harry said.  
  
"Don't you need one more?" Alice asked curiously.  
  
"Yes. I'm trying to decide right now," Harry said consulting his list of Chasers.  
  
"Well let me try out!" Alice suggested. She looked around and grabbed a school broom.  
  
"It's worth a try," Harry sighed.  
  
Alice mounted the broomstick and Harry frowned in disgust.  
  
"Use mine, those broomsticks are ancient," he said trading broomsticks with Alice. They both flew up into the air and Harry took the spot as Keepers.  
  
Alice twirled the Quaffle in her hand. "So I have to get it in those hoops?" Alice asked.  
  
"Yes," Harry said. He yawned.  
  
"Alright," Alice approved. She turned on the broomstick to the other side of the pitch.  
  
"What are you doing?" Harry called. "You're supposed to get them into these hoops."  
  
"I know!" Alice called. She stopped turned around and then, holding the Quaffle tightly, began to make her way to Harry and the hoops. But instead of just putting on a burst of speed and putting the Quaffle in the hoops she made fake dives and made sharp lefts and rights, as if dodging other players, she was even upside down on one point. Then she threw the Quaffle above Harry's head who tried to block it but it went into the top most hoop.  
  
"Wow," Harry said amazed.  
  
"First time," Alice smiled.  
  
"You're in," Harry said immediately. He flew back down to the ground and they began to walk up the pitch together.  
  
"You'll need to get a broomstick," Harry advised.  
  
"Maybe I'll get a Firebolt too," Alice smiled.  
  
"You have enough?" Harry asked uncertainly.  
  
"Yes. My mom was actually quite rich," she explained.  
  
"Harry, Harry!" Colin yelled excitedly. Harry was surprised to see Seamus, Dean, Ginny, Ron and Colin all waiting for him on the front steps. "Was that Alice up there? She was AMAZING! She's on the team right?"  
  
"Yes," Harry said. Alice beamed proudly.  
  
"WHAT?!" Ron yelled angrily.  
  
"Ron did you not see her? She was fantastic!" Harry said putting his arm around Alice.  
  
"You're not supposed to let anyone on the team without telling ME first!" Ron said crossly.  
  
"Fine. Alice is on the team ok?" Harry said sarcastically.  
  
"NO!" Ron yelled stubbornly.  
  
"Ron! She was the best out of all of us! Are we supposed to have LAVENDER on the team instead of her? Do you want to win the Quidditch cup this year?" Ginny asked trying to get some sense into Ron's head.  
  
Ron shook his head. He stormed up the steps into the castle, mumbling about friendship.  
  
"Never mind him Harry," Ginny said shaking her head in shame.  
  
"You were GREAT Alice!" Dean said happily patting her on the back.  
  
"Yea! We may win the Quidditch cup this year!" Seamus said excitedly.  
  
"You really think so? That was my first time up in the air," Alice bragged.  
  
"Really? Only your first?" Ginny asked amazed.  
  
They walked up to the castle together, ready for some supper. Harry could tell Alice was extremely happy and he was happy to see that. Everyone was always whispering and saying rude things about her, and for once, they were complimenting her. Harry knew that meant a lot to Alice.  
  
****  
  
Harry and Alice went to the Gryffindor Common Room to find Ron sitting on an armchair staring at the ceiling.  
  
"What do you want?" muttered Ron as they walked into the room.  
  
"Why do you hate Alice so much?" Harry asked even though he knew the answer.  
  
"Hmm, let's think. I wonder why Hermione is in the hospital wing," said Ron sarcastically. "Maybe because-"  
  
"You made me leave Alice which made her lose control," Harry finished for him angrily. "Do you know how bad she felt when she saw Hermione lying on the floor, not moving. Dumbledore wanted me to stay with her and that's what happens if I don't!"  
  
"She's just like her father," snarled Ron and shot Alice a nasty look. Tears were rolling down her face.  
  
"How can you say that!" she yelled at him. "Do you think I like him being my father? All I know about him is that he is a power crazy, murdering, git! Oh yeah I really want him as a father!"  
  
Ron stared at her for a moment. "Ok then, why did you attack Hermione? What did she do to you?" he demanded nastily.  
  
"I didn't," she said as her eyes narrowed, which made her look like Voldemort.  
  
Harry explained about the curses and the sisters and what they did to her.  
  
"So, you're telling me, when she's away from you then she starts attacking people?" he asked awkwardly.  
  
"I guess," Harry shrugged. "Not all the time."  
  
"Then why doesn't she when she sleeps?" he asked, his eyebrows raised.  
  
"Because my mind is resting and it's hard to take over. When I sleep, Benita and Desdemona sleep also. It's just harder to do it when you are occupied or sleeping," she explained. "Do you still hate me?" she asked quietly.  
  
"No, it's just hard to understand. Everything always has to be so complicated!" he said annoyed.  
  
****  
  
Alice, Harry and Ron all made their way to the Hospital Wing to see if Hermione had gotten better.  
  
"Yes... but she has just woken up so I'll give you 5 minutes," Madam Pomfrey said letting them in.  
  
Ron ran straight over to Hermione's bed, grinning happily. Alice made her way over slowly, her head hung in shame.  
  
"Don't worry about it Alice. Dumbledore came to visit me earlier and explained everything," Hermione smiled.  
  
"Oh Hermione!" Alice said throwing herself at Hermione and crying in her shoulder.  
  
Hermione looked at Harry and Ron and they both shrugged.  
  
"So, are you going to explain to us what's been going on with you?" Ron asked taking a seat and pulling it nearer to Hermione's bed.  
  
Hermione sighed as Alice pulled away curiously.  
  
"Alright," Hermione began slowly. "On the summer holidays, at the Black house, while we were cleaning, I came across this small vile. It was full of this clear liquid. Now you got to understand that I wanted to know what this thing was so I took out the book 9000 Magical Liquids and Their Uses . I thought it was called this potion called Yongerber, a potion that makes you smarter," Hermione said.  
  
"But you're already really smart..." Ron interrupted but Hermione shot him a nasty look.  
  
"Anyway... I drank all of the vile. But then I had these weird, strange dreams. Each time I went to sleep, something awful would happen. I'd see people and things die, I would watch as people drown or got murdered... watched as people got tortured. Narrowly escape giant monsters, and I kept telling myself they were just dreams until I researched further into the book and found that the liquid was actually called Jeranweir, or more commonly known as Nightmare Oil," Hermione explained. "It said that Nightmare Oil reveals the secrets of the people around you, and I thought to myself, who would want to kill these people? And of course, I thought they were just dreams, until I actually got bitten by one of the stupid monsters." She lifted up the arm in her robe and revealed a particularly nasty gash on her arm. "They're real dreams, and I don't know how to make them stop. Better yet, find out which one of us has the secret desire to kill. Naturally I thought it was you Alice, until you used the Cruciatus curse on me, which backfired. I saw your secrets, I saw you... kill someone, but that was all. You didn't want to kill, I could feel that in you."  
  
"I killed my Aunt yes, but that wasn't my fault. Desdemona made me," Alice pointed out.  
  
"Yes. I've been trying to find out the antidote to the potion, but there's NOTHING... It says in the book the only way to stop the dreams is to destroy the one whose desires they are."  
  
Harry and Ron were completely silent.  
  
"Malfoy," Alice said suddenly.  
  
"What?" Hermione asked turning to look at her.  
  
"Malfoy. It's obviously him," she said.  
  
"What makes you think it's Malfoy Harry asked.  
  
"Because, who else could it be? Ginny? Neville? Luna?" Alice snorted. "He's always had that desire to kill, he got it from his no good father."  
  
"So you're saying we have to kill Malfoy based on the fact that no one else can think about killing?" Hermione asked, her eyebrows raised.  
  
"No, we can easily find out what he's thinking in that brain of his," Alice said playfully.  
  
"How? We can't just ask him!" Ron explained bitterly.  
  
"Yes we can. Don't you see?" Alice said standing up. She looked at the blank looks on all their faces. "Oh come on it's so obvious! The Veritaserum!"  
  
****  
  
Hermione got out of the Hospital the next day, and since it was Sunday, they spent the whole afternoon in the Library, speaking in hushed voices about the Veritaserum.  
  
"How are we supposed to give it to him? He very well won't take anything any of us offered him," Hermione said. Harry noticed that she was trying to find a flaw in Alice's plan but Alice didn't seem bothered by it.  
  
"Of course we won't go up to him and offer him the drink. We'll say something like it's some super-drink while he's eavesdropping like he always does. Reverse Psychology," Alice explained.  
  
"But he's going to know what it looks like. We're all doing the potion in class," Hermione said biting her lip.  
  
"I'll screw up ours! It's only yours and Harry's that count! You're probably the only ones in the class that will make it right," Alice complimented. Hermione blushed slightly and then looked down at her book.  
  
"THAT'S IT!" Ron exclaimed angrily, throwing his book at the center of the table. "I've had enough! There is no cure for Hermione!"  
  
Hermione looked at him and her eyes looked about to water.  
  
"But we haven't checked all the books yet," Hermione said quietly.  
  
"Hermione, over the past 6 years at this library, we've read every single book. There's no others," Ron tried to say lightly.  
  
"There must be another way than killing!" Hermione said haughtily.  
  
"But there isn't! Hermione, let's just devote all of our brain power to the Veritaserum okay?" Ron tried to persuade.  
  
"What about the Restricted Section? Maybe we can get a pass from Tonks..." Hermione said thoughtfully.  
  
"If you want to go and do it," Harry said, leaning back on his chair. "I'm not going in that section ever again."  
  
"Well... ALICE! Tonks is your cousin right?" Hermione asked suddenly.  
  
"Yes, we've been over that Hermione. Did I knock out your long term memory?" Alice said worried.  
  
"No no. Since she's your cousin, you can easily persuade her to give us all passes to the Restricted Section to do some research on the Unforgivable curses," Hermione explained.  
  
"I don't know. Tonks doesn't like to be manipulated," Alice said slowly.  
  
"Oh come on!" Hermione pleaded. "Do you want to kill someone or do you want to find an answer in those restricted books?"  
  
Alice hesitated and looked at Harry for help. Harry shook his head and Alice gulped.  
  
"Fine... but if it doesn't work then we'll spend all of our time deceiving Malfoy alright?" Alice asked.  
  
"Of course!" Hermione said jumping from the table.  
  
"Where are you going Hermione?" Ron called after her.  
  
"To find Tonks!" she called back.  
  
"Let her go Ron," Alice said as Ron started to get up after her. She took out the Green Orb and began playing with it.  
  
"I don't think you should be playing with it all the time, Alice," Harry said uneasily.  
  
"Why not? It's not going to hurt me," Alice said letting the Orb float through her fingers.  
  
"Well... I just don't think you should be playing with that in broad daylight," Harry said. He had a bad feeling about the Orb and he didn't know why, and when Alice showed it off like that, it made him even more uneasy.  
  
"Riddle, what's that?" came a cold drawing voice. Someone's arm snatched the Orb out of Alice's fingers.  
  
"Malfoy!" Alice growled standing up.  
  
"What is it? Are you playing that Muggle game Marbles?" Malfoy asked sharply. "I bet that Mudblood Granger taught you how."  
  
"Give it back, Malfoy!" Alice said angrily. She made a wild leap for the Orb but Malfoy switched hands with the Orb just in time.  
  
He looked at it interestedly.  
  
"I think I'll keep it," he said finally.  
  
"No you won't Malfoy. Give it back!" Alice screamed in pure rage now. Harry and Ron both got to their feet and were now either side of Alice, just as Crabbe and Goyle were either side of Malfoy.  
  
"Why do you want it so bad. It's not MAGICAL is it?" Malfoy teased holding his hand out in front of him to stop another wild attack from Alice.  
  
"Actually, you can have it," Alice said all of a sudden shrugging. Harry was going to scream "what" but Alice squeezed his arm. Malfoy looked up at her suspiciously.  
  
"Why?" he asked suddenly.  
  
"Well, it's actually and extra-credit project for Professor Tonks. See, that thing right there is made of charmed Dragon Dung, and it's actually a device used to ward off attackers, because of the smell. Since I'm the maker of it, whoever holds it other than me will be sprayed with a rather bad smelling poison," Alice said.  
  
Malfoy looked at the seriousness in Alice's face and then threw the Orb back at her.  
  
"Riddle," he said turning on his heel.  
  
"Malfoy," Alice grinned happily, putting the Orb back in her pocket.  
  
****  
  
Hermione's plan with Tonks failed. Tonks was suspicious when Hermione asked for a pass to the Restricted Section, and Hermione wasn't the best liar. Hermione decided to drop the plan and devoted her time in-between classes to watching Malfoy's daily routine. It wasn't until something unexpected happened at Hogwarts that Hermione's spying suddenly stopped.  
  
Dumbledore stood up at breakfast one morning near the end of September and he was smiling like he had just been declared Minister for Magic.  
  
"I have a special announcement. We have a new student coming in from Durmstrang and I'd like everyone to meet her. Please welcome Addyline Avery," Dumbledore said loudly and clearly. Everyone fell silent.  
  
A girl with long, dark brown hair and bright blue eyes stepped beside Dumbledore. She was extremely pretty, but there was something harsh in those eyes, something Harry couldn't quite put his finger on. She looked tan, like she had been out in the sun for a couple of days straight.  
  
"She'll be joining Slytherin," Dumbledore announced when no one clapped.  
  
Finally the Slytherin table roared their approval. Addyline gave everyone a sharp look and then walked down towards the Slytherin table where she was bombarded by the rest of the sixth years.  
  
"Avery... Avery..." Ron muttered. "Hey Harry. Wasn't Avery a Death Eater?"  
  
"Yes..." Harry said slowly eyeing the Slytherin table with total disgust. Malfoy was greeting Addyline like they were old friends and they both got up from the table and walked out.  
  
"I remember her," Alice muttered darkly from beside Harry.  
  
"What?" Harry asked. He didn't think he had heard Alice right.  
  
"Addyline Avery," Alice said slowly.  
  
"What about her?" Hermione said from across the table. She was holding a very thick book and had just realized that there was a new student at Hogwarts.  
  
"When Voldemort sent Death Eaters to my house, Avery brought his stupid daughter with him," Alice growled.  
  
"I think she's pretty," Ron said suddenly staring after Addyline and Malfoy.  
  
Hermione rounded on Ron. "You WHAT?" she asked crossly.  
  
"Think she's pret-" Ron started but Hermione got up from the table and stormed out of the Great Hall. Ron suddenly realized what he said and then got up after her. "Hermione! Wait up!" he called.  
  
"Do you think there's something going on with Hermione and Ron?" Alice asked suspiciously.  
  
"No," Harry assured.  
  
"Well... it just seems like they've been seeing a lot of each other..." Alice started.  
  
"Trust me Alice. If there was something going on between Ron and Hermione, they'd tell me," Harry said.  
  
****  
  
Alice and Harry walked to potions. On the way there they saw Malfoy leaning against the wall, talking to Addyline in a trying-to-sound-mature voice.  
  
As Harry and Alice walked by Addyline, she shot a look at Alice.  
  
"Hey Riddle, how's your daddy these days?" Addyline asked cooly as Alice walked by. Malfoy laughed. Alice stopped dead.  
  
"Hey Avery, how's your dad lately? I heard he gets the Cruciatus curse a lot. Not doing his job properly now is he?" Alice snapped back at her.  
  
Addyline looked in full rage. She went to put her hand in her pocket, but Malfoy grabbed her wrist.  
  
Alice looked at Malfoy then Addyline, then started to walk to the dungeons where they had potions. Harry ran after her.  
  
When they went in the classroom, they found Ron and Hermione waiting for them. Ron was slumped in his chair while Hermione was facing the opposite way of Ron.  
  
Harry took his seat next to Hermione and Alice took her seat at the front of the class with Malfoy.  
  
About 5 minutes later the classroom was full and, with a slam of the door, Snape barged into the classroom looking thoroughly annoyed.  
  
"Now you should have your homework on the affect that will happen if you do the Veritaserum wrong," said Snape coldly. "We will continue on with the Veritaserum. They are just the way you left them on Friday," Snape said sharply. "Instructions," he said hitting his wand on the board, "On the board, you may begin."  
  
Addyline went up to Snape and said something. Snape nodded and then said, "Malfoy, Riddle. Miss Avery will be working with you on your Veritaserum."  
  
Avery smirked at Alice, which made Alice's eyes narrow dangerously.  
  
"Ok add 3 Moonstones and stir 7 times clockwise and 5 times counter- clockwise," Hermione muttered to herself as she added the Moonstones.  
  
Harry was watching Addyline. There was something about her...  
  
****  
  
The rest of September went by quickly. Harry, Ron and Alice would say goodbye to Hermione three times a week and would set off towards the Quidditch pitch to practice. As usual, their first match would be against Slytherin at the beginning of November.  
  
Harry was surprised to see such a good team. Ginny, Colin and Alice were great Chasers, and despite what Alice was like, she wasn't a ball hog. Harry was soon reminded of the Quidditch cup and the Irish Chasers.  
  
Dean and Seamus were excellent Beaters also. Almost as good as Fred and George, Harry thought, and with a bit more practice, they would be much better. Ron was getting better at the Keeper position, but it was difficult for him to block all of Alice's Quaffles.  
  
The Veritaserum was to be finished in mid-October, where Hermione was having difficulties in planning how to give it to him.  
  
"You can only save it for about two weeks and then it loses it's magic," Hermione exclaimed as Harry, Ron and Alice came back after Quidditch practice one day.  
  
"Calm down Hermione," Alice said annoyed. She plopped down into a chair and sighed tiredly.  
  
"Hey. Hogsmeade weekend!" Ron said excitedly pointing at a message posted on the board. "It's for the third weekend of October. We can give him the potion then."  
  
"While Crabbe, Goyle and Avery are surrounding him? I don't think so," Hermione frowned.  
  
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Alice said indignantly. "I want to kill Malfoy! The sooner it gets over with..." she trailed off, clenching her fists.  
  
"I don't want you all turning into killers!" Hermione cried. "We have to destroy them. I think it means we have to destroy the thoughts."  
  
"How're we going to destroy thoughts?" Alice challenged.  
  
"Way ahead of you!" Hermione said gleefully pulling out a rolled up piece of parchment. "There's this curse called the Filus Coutrez. It makes the victims mind relaxed enough to input information. The victim, in this case, Malfoy, will process the information and believe anything we say to him. All we have to do is tell him he doesn't want to kill. But..." she trailed off. Her grin faded and she was now frowning.  
  
"But what?" Harry asked.  
  
"But, it's got to be done by someone close and trusted," Hermione said biting her lip.  
  
There was some silence until Alice mumbled, "Avery."  
  
****  
  
"How're we ever going to get Avery to do the spell for us?" Harry asked confused.  
  
"Under the Imperius curse," Hermione supplied.  
  
"But Hermione, that's illeg-" Ron started, but Hermione interrupted.  
  
"Alice you can do the Imperius curse, since you're the best at it. Then after we've made Avery do the Filus Coutrez on Malfoy and made her tell Malfoy not to kill, we'll do a simple Memory Adjustment charm," Hermione said proudly.  
  
Harry looked at her astonished. "You've certainly put a lot of thought into this," he mumbled.  
  
"Let me get this straight," Ron said slowly, his eyes wide as Pigwidgeon's. "We're going to give Malfoy the Veritaserum illegally and if we find out he does want to kill someone or something, we're going to put Avery under the Imperius curse... illegally , and make her curse Malfoy into not wanting to kill... ILLEGALLY. And when that's all done, we're going to erase their memory... illegally? "  
  
"Exactly," Hermione said grinning.  
  
Ron looked at her for a second and then shrugged. "Fine with me."  
  
Alice was smiling evilly.  
  
"Finally... I get to put Avery under that Imperius curse," she whispered. Harry looked at her uncomfortably. He didn't like the way she was staring at the ground and the way her eyes were squinted.  
  
****  
  
The next day they had their Care of Magical Creatures class with the Slytherins. When Hagrid didn't show up by middle of the class, the class decided to talk.  
  
Malfoy and Avery were sitting on the grass holding hands.  
  
"Look at Pansy," Hermione giggled. Harry looked up and saw Pansy Parkison. She wasn't looking particularly puggish today, but was rather angry.  
  
"DRACO!" she screamed angrily. Malfoy jumped up and saw Pansy.  
  
"Uh... 'Lo there Pansy..." he said nervously.  
  
"Draco, who is this?" Avery demanded throwing Pansy a dirty look.  
  
"Um... Addyline... this is... uh... Pansy Parkison..." Malfoy said. His face was now beat red and he was scratching his head so furiously it was a wonder to Harry how his hair stayed slick back.  
  
"Draco... are you... are you... GOING with her?" Pansy asked hurt.  
  
Malfoy opened his mouth to speak but Avery spoke for him. "Yes. We are. Not like it's any of your business anyway," she said cruelly.  
  
"But... just last week he was going with me," Pansy stuttered looking as though she had been slapped.  
  
"Well! That is hard to believe, since you're so ugly. Draco... have you ever been with this monstrosity?" Avery asked sweetly turning to Malfoy. Malfoy looked extremely terrified, and he shook his head slowly. "See? I think you're type is more along the lines of Crabbe and Goyle."  
  
Pansy looked positively full of rage and took a step forward. Avery took out her wand though and pointed it straight at Pansy.  
  
"Careful Pansy , I'm pretty good with this wand you see. I'm not afraid to hurt you with it," Avery said sweetly.  
  
Harry looked over at Alice but she was already getting up and storming over to Avery.  
  
"Avery!" she screamed pulling out her own wand. Harry jumped up and ran after Alice... he didn't like this side of her.  
  
"What is it Riddle?" Avery said coldly, turning her eyes to Alice.  
  
"You want to threaten someone? Threaten me," Alice said cooly.  
  
"Oh I've been waiting for this a long time..." Avery said standing up.  
  
Alice's lips curled into an evil smile.  
  
"Accio pants!" Alice said. Harry didn't want to see what happened next, but to his great dislike he did. Avery's pants were whipped off suddenly and she was thrown backwards by the force of it.  
  
"RIDDLE!" Avery screamed in rage, standing up and covering herself in her robes. "Cruci-"  
  
"Expelliarmus!" cried Alice. Avery's wand went flying into the air. "Wingardium Leviosa," Alice cried again and the wand started to hit Avery over the head again and again.  
  
Avery was now beat red with anger. She grabbed her wand. "Now you're asking for it Riddle," she threatened. "Stupe-"  
  
"Impedimentia," Alice screamed at Avery. Avery was knocked back several feet. She tried to get up but, she was bound by invisible ropes. "Oh, Avery... tsk tsk tsk... I thought you would be better at dueling, I guess I was wrong," Alice said looking down at Avery.  
  
"Riddle, you wait! You'll get what's coming to you. If not from me but from your dad," she said giving Alice a look of deepest loathing.  
  
"Silenco!" Alice screamed at Avery in anger. "Really Avery, are you a Seer now? Congratulations!" she said sarcastically. "Serpensortia," she said and a long black snake shot out of her wand and started to slither up to Avery. Avery tried with all her might to move but was still bound by the invisible ropes to the ground, and even though she had no voice she was mouthing the words "stop it". "What's that Avery? Couldn't here you. Oh... you don't like snakes do you? Oh dear... what was I thinking then?" she said. "Go to Avery. Slither over her body, show her..." Alice said in a totally different voice.  
  
Harry looked up at her. She was speaking Parsletounge.  
  
Harry watched as the snake began to make it's way up to Avery and slithered over her body, hissing at her.  
  
"Avery, I thought you liked your house mascot," Alice teased.  
  
"Stop it!" Malfoy screamed jumping in to save his girlfriend.  
  
"Rictusempa!" Alice screamed at Malfoy. Malfoy doubled over and was soon on the ground panting as if he lost his breathe. "Stay out of this Malfoy," Alice warned. She turned back to Avery. The Impedimentia curse was wearing off and she was beginning to move again. "Petrificus Totalus," Alice said to Avery. Avery went rigid as a board.  
  
"Mobilicorpus," Alice said and Avery's rigid body soared into the air and with Alice's guidance landed right on top of Malfoy.  
  
"What's goin' on 'ere?" came a booming voice. Everyone looked over to see Hagrid coming out of the Forbidden Forest. "Alice what are yeh doin'?" he asked out of breathe.  
  
"Giving Avery what she deserves, Hagrid," Alice said cruelly.  
  
"Go on now! Fix her," Hagrid ordered. Alice raised her wand slowly and through clenched teeth mumbled, "Finite Incantatem."  
  
Avery soon was able to move and her voice was back to normal.  
  
"I'll get you for that, Riddle," Avery said as Hagrid started to teach the class.  
  
"Diffindo," Alice mumbled smiling. Avery's robes soon had a long cut in the back. "Here's your pants," Alice said returning the pants to Avery who quickly put them on. Avery soon shrieked as a long snake came out of them. Harry couldn't help but laugh. He never knew Alice was so good at dueling.  
  
****  
  
"I am pleased to inform you that your Veritaserum should be done by the end of this moon. All you need to do for this class is add the rest of your Kappa Ears, the instructions are on the board. You may begin," Snape instructed.  
  
"Ooh, I'm so excited," Hermione said shrilly as Snape sat down at his desk. "We're almost done!"  
  
"Calm down Hermione. Before you wet yourself," Ron teased as Neville tried to weigh the right amount of Kappa Ears.  
  
"Oh shut up Ron," Hermione retorted. She began to weigh Kappa Ears herself and then she began cutting off the useless bits of it. Snape had said that some parts of Kappa ears should not be added to the Veritaserum or else it would be completely useless.  
  
Harry looked up at Alice's table.  
  
"Riddle! Look what you did!" Avery screamed.  
  
"Oh shut up Avery!" Alice sighed throwing a handful of Frog Liver at Addyline.  
  
"Professor Snape! Professor Snape!" Avery said waving her arm frantically in the air.  
  
"What is it?" Snape asked coldly.  
  
"Riddle just threw our batch of Frog Liver at me," Avery tattled wiping Frog Liver from her hair.  
  
"Scourgify," Snape said rolling his eyes. Every drop of Frog Liver was wiped clean from Avery. "Riddle!" he said rounding on Alice. Alice was still looking menacingly at Avery.  
  
"What?" she asked through gritted teeth.  
  
"5 points from Gryffindor," Snape said. Alice turned to look at Snape and opened her mouth to speak. "AND a detention."  
  
Alice narrowed her eyes and shut her mouth.  
  
Snape then turned back to Avery. "15 points from Slytherin for aggravating an attack," he said harshly.  
  
"But Professor! I didn't do any-" Avery whined.  
  
"50 points," Snape said. "Anything more you'd like to add?"  
  
Avery opened her mouth again but Malfoy squeezed her wrist.  
  
"Riddle, go work with Thomas and Finnigan," Snape ordered. Alice turned on her heel gladly and went over to Dean and Seamus' cauldron.  
  
The bell that signaled the end of class rung through Hogwarts, and Harry helped Hermione push their cauldron to the side of the class.  
  
"Just think Harry. In two weeks the potion will be done and we can give it to Malfoy," Hermione said in a singsong voice.  
  
"Oh please let me give it to him," Alice said rubbing her fists.  
  
"What's gotten into you Alice?" Harry asked nervously.  
  
"Nothing. It's just I HATE Malfoy and Avery. Think their fathers are the greatest people in the world, and they think they are also, just because they're the kids of Death Eaters. They shouldn't be proud of that. Yet they strut around the school as if they own the place," Alice said angrily.  
  
"Well, just don't take it out on us," Harry warned.  
  
"Oh don't worry," Alice said. Her frown had turned into a big smile and the sweetness that was once Alice, had returned. "You guys are my best friends. I can't be mad at any of you." She put her arms around Hermione and Harry and Hermione put her arm around Ron to include him in their chain. They marched as one to the Great Hall for lunch.  
  
****  
  
"Look at that!" Hermione said excitedly. It was later that evening and they were all working on their History of Magic homework. Hermione was pointing back at the Bulletin Board and another piece of parchment was attached to it.  
  
Harry looked at it and read it aloud.  
  
"Halloween Dance on October 31st" Harry read. "That's all? Nothing else?" Harry asked, but no one was listening. Alice had suddenly squealed excitedly.  
  
"Oh I need to get Dress Robes! Maybe I'll pick up a pair at Hogsmeade," she said thoughtfully. Hermione nodded her head.  
  
"I know, I also need a new pair. The one I wore in 4th year are to small, plus, I'm thinking of getting something like a metallic purple..."  
  
"Oh my gosh that would look excellent on you Hermione! And then we can do your hair in ringlets!" Alice said excitedly.  
  
"And you should get something pink, or red, to bring out your strawberry blonde hair," Hermione said.  
  
Ron looked over at Harry and raised his eyebrows. "Girls," he said.  
  
"Come to think of it, I think I've outgrown my old Dress Robes also," Harry said. Immediately Hermione and Alice rounded on him.  
  
"You should stick with something green Harry. Those robes were magnificent and they brought out your eyes," Hermione said thoughtfully.  
  
"Something black also, it would match your hair," Alice started.  
  
"How about black with green trimmings?" Hermione suggested and Alice squealed excitedly again.  
  
Harry rolled his eyes at Ron. Ron was starting to do impressions of Hermione and Alice.  
  
"Oh my gosh Alice, you look beautiful! No no no, Hermione, you look beautiful!" he said in a rather un-naturally high voice.  
  
Hermione and Alice gave Ron a dirty look but then started talking again.  
  
A horrible thought crossed Harry's mind. What if this turned out to be like the Yule Ball? He wouldn't have a date... he'd be the only one without a date. Unless... Harry looked around the Common Room and saw Reggie Throne strutting up to them. Harry looked around desperately and his eyes landed on Alice.  
  
"ALICE!" he said suddenly making her jump.  
  
"What?" Alice asked concerned.  
  
"Will you go to the dance with me?" Harry said in a rushed voice, eyeing Reggie suspiciously.  
  
Alice looked taken aback, but then blushed. "Okay," she said. Harry sighed in relief and watched as Reggie Throne stopped in front of another 7th year girl. He had worried for nothing. Well, at least I have a date , he thought shrugging.  
  
"Who're you going with Ron?" Harry asked a while later in their dormitory.  
  
Ron suddenly went scarlet and tried to hide his face. "Um... don't really know yet, Harry," he admitted.  
  
"Why don't you go with Hermione," Harry suggested, trying to see what Ron's reaction would be. Ron's face, if possible, went even more scarlet.  
  
He mumbled something that Harry couldn't hear and then said goodnight and closed the curtains on his four-poster.  
  
****  
  
The next morning, Ron was acting very weird. He got dressed really quickly and went down into the Common Room.  
  
"What's up with him?" Dean snorted.  
  
Harry shrugged.  
  
He went down the stairs to wait for Alice and sat in the chair right next to Ron, who's head was in his hands.  
  
"So..." Harry said after a long pause. "You going ask Hermione?"  
  
Ron shot up.  
  
"Er... sure I guess."  
  
Finally after waiting for about 5 minutes, Alice and Hermione came down into the Common Room. They all began to walk down to the Great Hall.  
  
"Er, 'Mione can I talk to you for a bit?" Ron muttered.  
  
"Oh, er, sure," Hermione said awkwardly.  
  
They walked out of the Great Hall.  
  
"Bet you anything that he's going to ask her to the dance," Alice said grinning.  
  
"Yea," laughed Harry.  
  
After a while it was time to go to class. Harry and Alice walked out of the Great Hall into the Entrance Hall where they heard a chorus of laughter.  
  
"Muggle-lover and Mudblood! Going to the dance together! Oh this is just too great!" laughed Malfoy, tears coming down his face.  
  
"Malfoy Malfoy Malfoy. What a horrible mistake you have just made," sighed Alice as she walked in front of Ron. "You think you could actually get away with saying that in front of me?"  
  
Malfoy's head turned towards Alice, his eyes narrowed.  
  
"Alice stay out of this," whispered Ron.  
  
"No, Ron! I've been waiting for an excuse to attack Malfoy, and here is a perfect one," she snarled.  
  
"I mean, look! If she ever went to kiss him, she couldn't because he's way to tall!" Malfoy laughed.  
  
There was red and green flashes. From the looks of it, Ron had stunned Malfoy and Alice transfigured him into a white ferret.  
  
The loud chorus of laughter stopped. Everything went quiet except the sound of a loud bell signaling the start of classes.  
  
The crowd of Slytherins went away, all of them except Addyline Avery.  
  
"You'll pay for that one Riddle," she spat as she moved closer to Alice. "Cru-!"  
  
Before she could finish the Cruciatus Curse, something odd happened. Alice passed out.  
  
Avery looked from Alice to Harry then to Ron before she ran off to class, looking somewhat scared.  
  
Harry slid down to his knees and knelt over Alice.  
  
"Get Dumbledore quick! Tell him Alice and I will be in the Hospital wing," he told Ron and Hermione urgently, not taking his eyes off of Alice  
  
They nodded and ran off.  
  
Harry took his right arm under her back and his left arm under her knees. He picked her up and started off to the hospital wing.  
  
****  
  
"Tsk tsk tsk. Are you sure no one cursed her?"  
  
"Yes. Avery tried to, but she hadn't even finished saying it before Alice passed out."  
  
"Hmm, well. It looks like she's been stunned, but her eyes would be opened." Madam Pomfrey clicked disapprovingly and instructed Harry to lay her on one of the beds.  
  
Dumbledore soon walked calmly into the wing, Ron and Hermione right at his heels. He looked at Alice and then to Harry.  
  
"Did you leave her?" he asked sharply.  
  
Harry looked up at Dumbledore and then he shook his head angrily. "I was right beside her Professor." Dumbledore nodded and turned back to Madam Pomfrey.  
  
"Poppy," he said crisply. Madam Pomfrey bustled back in holding a goblet full of a smoking liquid.  
  
"Here Headmaster. Luckily you warned me in advance. Send my thanks to Severus," she said handing the goblet to Dumbledore. He nodded and Madam Pomfrey turned away.  
  
Dumbledore leaned forward, and prepared to give Alice the potion but Harry leapt in front of him. "What is that?" he ordered.  
  
"Disstressment Potion," he said. Harry looked into Dumbledore's eyes, to see them flicker, but they only twinkled as usual and Harry gave in and watched as Dumbledore put a couple drops into Alice's mouth. Alice soon stirred and then opened her eyes.  
  
"Hello," Dumbledore said happily.  
  
"What? Why... why am I here?" Alice asked looking around the wing.  
  
"You fainted," Hermione spoke up from behind Dumbledore.  
  
"To be more precise, your mind spun out of control," Dumbledore said.  
  
"WHY?" Harry asked harshly. He didn't like the way that Dumbledore seemed so calm and collected. Alice could've been in serious trouble and she had given Harry a scare.  
  
"Stress. I have no doubt that you four are up to something. When Addyline tried to perform the Cruciatus curse on Alice, she collapsed. Her mind was prepared for defense, but she knew that she was going to be to late. Benita and Desdemona knew this too, and shut down the mind to block off the attack," Dumbledore explained. "I knew it would happen sooner or later, so I asked Severus to make the Disstressment Potion for this occasion."  
  
"How did you know about the fight," Ron asked suspiciously.  
  
"My dear boy. You shouldn't ask such questions to a Headmaster. What kind of Headmaster would I be if I didn't know what went on in my school? Especially fights and duels," Dumbledore said. He pulled out a package of Sugar Quills and gave one to each of them. He left, his eyes twinkling magnificently behind his half moon spectacles.  
  
"Well... at least the Veritaserum will be done next week," Hermione said in hope of cheering them all up.  
  
****  
  
"I can't believe it's done! It's done! It's right here, in my hands," Hermione said excitedly.  
  
She held up a small tube of the clear liquid.  
  
"Oh shush Hermione!" Alice said rolling her eyes.  
  
"Can you believe it? We pulled it off! We finished the potion and we just have to get it to Malfoy!" Hermione said, ignoring Alice.  
  
It was midnight in the Common Room and Hermione had finished the Veritaserum earlier that day and would not stop talking about it.  
  
"Hermione, it's old news! Just close your mouth! We've got to decide how to give this to Malfoy," Ron snapped. Hermione closed her mouth and then passed the small bottle to Ron.  
  
"I say we give him the whole bottle. That unworthy..." Alice began for the millionth time.  
  
She had been saying nasty stuff about Avery and Malfoy ever since the day she collapsed in the Great Hall. Malfoy was sent to Professor McGonagall where she had quite a time turning him back into his regular old self. 30 points had been taken from Gryffindor, 10 from Slytherin. But Snape seemed to think that wasn't enough and took 5 more from Gryffindor and another 40 from Slytherin.  
  
Harry had wondered why Snape wasn't his usual, Gryffindor-hater, self. He was still trying to get Harry in much trouble, but it seemed that whenever Alice did something wrong, she got off with it.  
  
"I say we do it cold turkey!" Alice said after her rambles.  
  
"What do you mean 'Cold Turkey'?" Hermione asked confused.  
  
"Instead of sneaking around under Invisibility Cloaks, we just attack him in the halls and force the potion down his throat," Alice said maliciously.  
  
"We can't, what if he tells someone," Hermione said biting her lip.  
  
"Hermione. You do know the Memory Adjustment Charm don't you?" Ron asked irritably.  
  
"Oh, right. Of course," Hermione said shaking her mind to get it to work again.  
  
"It's to late. Let's go to bed," Ron groaned slumping down further in his chair.  
  
"No. We have to find out how to give it to Malfoy. I want to do it tomorrow," Hermione said stubbornly.  
  
"Why can't we do it-" Ron said but the portrait had just swung open and 5 large persons came into the Gryffindor Common Room. Ron pocketed the Veritaserum immediately.  
  
Snape looked at them all and his eyes narrowed.  
  
"Midnight meetings now?" Snape said coldly.  
  
"What are you four doing up at this hour?" McGonagall asked sharply.  
  
"Uh... doing... homework?" Harry suggested. He looked around but there was no books, quills, ink, or parchment in sight.  
  
"Unless it's an oral assignment, I think they are lying," Snape said. Dumbledore looked at them suspiciously.  
  
"Go to bed you four," he said nodding to the doors on the right and left of the common room.  
  
"What? No punishment?" Snape asked incredulously.  
  
"We have no proof that they're doing anything wrong, Severus," Dumbledore sighed.  
  
Ron and Harry went up to the boy's dormitories and flopped on their bed knowing that the next day, they'd have to give the Veritaserum to Malfoy.  
  
****  
  
"I still say we should attack him," Alice said chewing on some bacon.  
  
"Fine Alice. If you're so eager in attacking him then you can do it," Hermione said. Alice grinned happily as if it were Christmas day and she had received a very large pony.  
  
"Excellent! Harry, you'll come with me won't you?" she added staring across the table at Harry.  
  
Ron grinned also and nudged Harry under the table. Harry quickly gave him a mean look and then turned back to Alice. "Of course. I don't want to miss the chance of seeing Malfoy attacked."  
  
"Well then, we'll do it after Potions," she instructed as they made their way to Transfiguration. "There's this chamber a little ways down from where Snape's classroom is. It's where the Slytherins hang out before they have to go to their next class. We'll just wait until Malfoy is by himself and BAM!" she said loudly.  
  
"Alice, are you sure you're not evil?" Harry asked jokingly. Alice smiled innocently.  
  
"No. I'm pure angel," she informed sticking her nose in the air.  
  
Transfiguration and History of Magic went by quickly and they were soon at lunch. Alice was eyeing Malfoy at the Slytherin table. Harry looked also and saw that he had his arm around Addyline.  
  
"They make a perfect couple don't they?" Alice sighed taking a sip of her soup. "They're both stupid Slytherins, both children of wretched Death Eaters, and both extremely ugly and repulsive."  
  
Ron sniggered making Malfoy look up from the table.  
  
"Hystemo" Alice said evilly, pointing her wand at Avery from across the room. All of a sudden Avery jumped up from the table scratching at a spot at her back. She shrieked making everyone look at her. She began scratching wildly at her back and made unsuccessful attempts in scratching a very high part on her back. She fell to the floor and tried scratching her back with it, still shrieking.  
  
Alice began laughing and then so did everyone else, taking her lead. Dumbledore muttered something under his breathe at the Staff Table and Avery stopped scratching. She stood up and looked around angrily.  
  
"RIDDLE!" she screamed in full rage.  
  
"What is it Avery? I'm sorry, I have not itch-cream if that's what you wanted," Alice smirked.  
  
Avery's eyes glinted angrily and Harry didn't think he'd seen her this mad.  
  
"Crucio!" she screamed and Alice wasn't prepared. She was blasted back and she began to scream horribly on the ground. Everyone in the Great Hall was looking at either Alice or Avery and Dumbledore had now gotten to his feet, but Harry felt something he hadn't felt in awhile. Pure hatred. He whipped out his own wand, and picturing Bellatrix's face on Avery's he shouted the same curse.  
  
It was ecstasy. He felt so powerful. He could hear the shrieks and cries and could see Avery rocking on the ground. There was only one thing on his mind, to hurt Avery. But suddenly he stopped. He didn't want to stop but something stopped him. Next thing he knew he was on the ground bound by invisible ropes, right next to Alice, who seemed to have come out of the Cruciatus curse also.  
  
Dumbledore was above him and he was looking angrier than ever. "NO ONE SHALL USE THE UNFORGIVABLE CURSES IN THIS SCHOOL!" he yelled. "I should expel you and Miss Avery right now!" he threatened and Harry was bursting with anger.  
  
"100 points from each house and a weeks worth of detentions," he shouted at Harry and Avery.  
  
"Thanks Harry," Alice said afterwards as everyone left the Great Hall. She leaned forwards and kissed him on the cheek and then sped up to the dungeons.  
  
****  
  
Potions, if possible, was worse than ever. Snape was staring at Avery and Harry with disgust on every inch of his face.  
  
"Hogwarts students? Doing Unforgivable Curses? I never expected it from goody Potter, here. But Avery, I would just assume you know the curse so well because your father has no doubt already taught you how to perform illegal curses on innocent people," Snape said coldly. Avery was about to open her mouth but she thought twice and just glared at Snape. "I would take more points from each of your houses, but, unfortunately, there are none left."  
  
The rest of the class was miserable. Snape had sent them to make a very difficult antidote to a very powerful potion, and when the class was done, only Hermione and Ron's antidote was correct.  
  
Alice was practically bouncing on her feet when the bell rang, signaling the end of class.  
  
Malfoy, Avery, Crabbe, and Goyle all made their way to the room down the corridor while Alice and Harry stood behind a large statue of wolf.  
  
"They should be out any moment, do you have the Veritaserum?" Harry whispered after about five minutes. Alice nodded and showed him the vile from her robes.  
  
Soon the Slytherins came out of the room, Malfoy right at the front.  
  
"Damn, he's getting away!" Alice whispered.  
  
"Diffindo," Harry whispered. Malfoy's bag had suddenly burst open from a long gash.  
  
"Oh no!" Malfoy said annoyed. Crabbe and Goyle started to help him but Malfoy wasn't making any progress with them helping. "Just go! I'll catch up," Malfoy ordered to them. Crabbe and Goyle shrugged and then began to walk Avery to class.  
  
"Now," Alice said starting to jump up.  
  
"No!" Harry hissed, pulling on her robes, making her come back to the ground. "Wait until they're out of sight," he said. Alice waited impatiently as Crabbe, Goyle, Avery and a couple other Slytherin 6 years, disappeared around a corner.  
  
Alice suddenly leapt out from behind the statue and jumped on Malfoy, knocking him to the ground. Harry jumped out too and dragged Malfoy into the classroom.  
  
"Colloportus," Harry said, pointing his wand at the door. Alice removed her hand from Malfoy's mouth to retrieve the vile from her robes and Harry helped her pin him down.  
  
"Riddle! Potter! What are you- What's that? WHAT IS IT?" Malfoy asked horrified as Alice waved the vile in front of his face.  
  
"A little drink Malfoy. Now now, calm down," she said playfully entering a couple drops into Malfoy's mouth. She soon had emptied the whole bottle and waited expectantly at Malfoy.  
  
His sneering face was soon gone and replaced by a somewhat normal one.  
  
"Malfoy... are you a pestering little dweeb who loves his mommy?" Alice teased.  
  
"No," Malfoy replied dreamily.  
  
"Stop it Alice. Let's just hurry and ask him before someone notices he's gone," Harry said hurriedly.  
  
"Fine, Harry," Alice agreed with an air of disappointment. "Malfoy, do you have any desire, any at all, to kill?"  
  
"Yes," Malfoy replied calmly.  
  
Alice looked at Harry who nodded.  
  
"Who do you want to kill?" Alice asked.  
  
"Potter," Malfoy answered simply. Alice rolled her eyes and let out a sigh of relief. "And my father."  
  
Alice looked taken aback for a few moments. "Nobody else? Not Alice Riddle?" she prompted.  
  
"There's nothing wrong with Alice," Malfoy said almost defiantly. "She was always kind to me when we were kids, when we would play."  
  
"But... she... never played with you," Alice said confused.  
  
"My father erased her memory of anything to do with us. Her mother asked us to do it. After she killed her Aunt, her mother wouldn't let her go to Hogwarts, and thought that if she forgot about me, then she wouldn't care about not going," Malfoy explained.  
  
"NO!" Alice said stubbornly.  
  
"Malfoy, why do you want to kill your father?" Harry asked, changing the subject quickly.  
  
"Because he's a fool. He's on terms with a man who could kill him and his family any moment," Malfoy answered.  
  
"Same with you. You want to kill him," Alice spat angrily.  
  
"Wanting and doing are entirely different things," Malfoy informed.  
  
"Oh shut up!" Alice said nastily, ready to lunge at him.  
  
"Calm down Alice," Harry said.  
  
"Best friends?" Alice repeated furiously. "I would never be friends with scum like you!"  
  
Harry sighed and rolled his eyes, and continued with Malfoy.  
  
"Harry Potter," Harry said and he saw Malfoy's fist clench. "Why do you want to kill him?"  
  
"No good, attention seeking, Quidditch playing air head who everyone adores. Potter the famous boy who defeated Voldemort by luck . Potter who became Hogwarts Champion just because he wanted more attention," Malfoy said coldly.  
  
"Jealous are you?" Alice said coming back in the conversation.  
  
"Jealous, yes," Malfoy said rather calmly. "Not of his fame, but of his powers."  
  
"Yes it might be hard knowing you're no where close to what he is," Alice yelled.  
  
"Alice! Let's go!" Harry said lifting her away from Malfoy. He steered her to the door but she stopped and pointed her wand at Malfoy.  
  
"Obliviate," she muttered.  
  
"Alohomora," Harry said to the door and it swung open. "Alice, you're shaking," Harry said quietly.  
  
"He had no right!" Alice said angrily.  
  
"Well it's true and there's nothing you can do about it!" Harry said, rather more harshly than he intended.  
  
Harry grabbed Alice's hand. "Let's go see Dobby okay?" he suggested.  
  
"Fine," she agreed, her teeth still clenched.  
  
They made their way to the kitchens, giving Alice some time to calm down and she was actually happy when she saw Dobby.  
  
"Dobby is glad to see Harry Potter and Alice Riddle again," he said in the same squeaky voice.  
  
"Hello Dobby!" Alice smiled kindly giving him a quick hug.  
  
"Yes, hello Dobby," Harry said grinning. He was in a better mood when Alice was.  
  
"Dobby is asking Harry Potter and Alice Riddle if they would be liking something from the kitchens?" Dobby asked, blushing when Alice let him go.  
  
Alice thought for a moment. "Yes. Can you make two plates of dinner for me and Harry? We won't be eating in the Great Hall today," Alice said. Harry was about to ask what she meant, but she gave him a 'shut-up' look and Harry went along with whatever Alice was planning. Dobby nodded and scampered out of sight.  
  
Harry shot Alice a suspicious look but she twiddled her thumbs and pretended to be interested in her shoes.  
  
"You do know we're supposed to be in Charms?" Harry asked after five minutes.  
  
"Whatever. We'll just say that you came down with one of them hour flu's," she said.  
  
"Why me?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Because, then I can take care of you like a little baby," Alice said sweetly.  
  
"I'm not a baby," Harry said hotly.  
  
"Of course not," Alice said grinning widely.  
  
"Besides, I'M supposed to take care of you," Harry said crossing his arms.  
  
"Why? Because you're the man ?" Alice teased sarcastically.  
  
Harry chose to ignore her, and soon Dobby came back with two plates of food. They left quickly and Harry was about to go up the Marble staircase and up to the Common  
  
Room, when Alice pulled him along. They were soon inside the secret room behind the tapestry.  
  
Alice soon magicked some candles so that the dark room had light, then she sat down, cross-legged on the stone floor and motioned Harry to sit down too.  
  
"Why are we eating dinner here?" Harry asked curiously as he sat down next to Alice.  
  
"To celebrate," Alice said simply, eating some Shepard's pie.  
  
"Right," Harry said, digging into his own plate. When they were both full of food, they leaned back on the stonewall.  
  
"Want to head back to the Common Room?" Harry asked after a moment of silence.  
  
Alice shook her head. "Thanks for cursing Avery, Harry," she said suddenly.  
  
Harry turned away and started looking at the candles, avoiding Alice's eyes. He wanted to kiss her, but he wasn't sure if he should, or even could, make himself do it.  
  
"Yea, she deserves it," Harry said nervously now turning back to Alice. The candlelight flickered over Alice's face making it, if possible, even more beautiful in Harry's eyes.  
  
Alice looked over at him and smiled.  
  
Harry began to lean in for a kiss. You're almost there , he told himself.  
  
"THERE YOU ARE! HERMIONE I FOUND THEM!" shouted a voice from the door. Harry spun around wildly and saw Ron opening the tapestry door.  
  
He jumped back and his hand flew to his hair.  
  
"What do you want , Ron?" Alice asked irritably.  
  
"We've been looking all over for you two! Dinner's about to start," Ron informed. Hermione entered the tapestry door behind him.  
  
"We've already ate dinner, thank you," Harry said sharply. Couldn't Ron have waited 5 more minutes? Harry asked himself. He was angry that he hadn't got to kiss Alice properly.  
  
"Did you give Malfoy the Veritaserum?" Hermione excitedly, ignoring the sharp looks from both Harry and Alice.  
  
"Yes," Alice sighed. She and Harry stood up.  
  
"Well..." Hermione prompted, obviously unable to contain her curiosity.  
  
"He wants to kill Harry," Alice said.  
  
"Well I could've told you that one. We didn't need the Veritaserum," Ron laughed.  
  
"... And his father," Alice finished, dropping her eyes to the floor.  
  
"What? Why?" Hermione asked surprised.  
  
"Personal Reasons," Alice said crossly. Harry suspected that Alice remembered what Malfoy said about them being best friends.  
  
"Well, at least we know it's Malfoy now and we can get Avery this weekend at Hogsmeade," Hermione said cheerfully. She must've known that Alice needed cheering up because at these words Alice smiled.  
  
"Oh I can't wait," she said as they walked out of the portrait.  
  
****  
  
Harry, Ron, Alice, and Hermione were all anticipating the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend with great enthusiasm. And despite Harry's midnight detentions, he was feeling happier than normal.  
  
He had his Quidditch practices to keep him happy three times a week, and the teachers were giving abnormally low amounts of homework compared to their last year.  
  
"But Professor, our NEWTs are coming up..." Hermione said to Professor Flitwick one day after he had assigned them to practice Duplicating Charms.  
  
"Shush Hermione!" Ron hissed angrily from Harry's other side.  
  
"Well sorry Ron," Hermione said sarcastically. "It's clear that I'm the only one who cares about passing NEWTs."  
  
"Hermione, they're over a year away!" Ron said rolling his eyes impatiently.  
  
Hermione glared at him. "That doesn't take away the fact that they're coming up and that we should study for them. If anything, we should have 4 times as much homework as we're getting now," she said indignantly.  
  
But Harry didn't care for reviewing 6 years of magic. His mind was elsewhere... on Alice.  
  
He had only ever felt this way about Cho Chang, and she had turned out to be someone entirely different. He occasionally passed Cho in the halls but he hadn't stop to look at her once. She had made it very clear that she didn't like him any more. She had now dated every 7th year boy from Ravenclaw and was working her way down the chain to the 5th year boys.  
  
But now he didn't care about Cho, he did, in fact, care about Alice. She was different than most Gryffindor girls... Hermione, Lavender and Pavarti, to be in fact. She was sweet and pretty, but seemed to have a split personality around her enemies. Oddly, Harry had grown accustom to this side of her, and liked her even better. She didn't seem to mind that everywhere she went, there were whispers that followed, and there were infinite rumors around Hogwarts.  
  
The Gryffindors, who had usually gotten on well with Harry, were suddenly mad at him for getting so many points deducted from the house. To Harry, the plus side was that none of the other houses had over 100 points anyway and Slytherin still had none, so it was a minor setback for the House Championship.  
  
Harry's detentions, as horrible as they were, gave him time to think about things, mostly of ways to get Avery by herself on their upcoming Hogsmeade weekend. He and Avery were made to clean the hospital wing, by hand, and clean the suits of armor. Harry had thought this would be easy, but it seemed as if the suits of armor were actually trash cans to the Hogwarts Students and each were filled with disgusting amounts of magical waste.  
  
"Ergh!" Avery said in disgust, pulling her hand out of the helmet and revealing a thick, green, fluid that had settled itself there.  
  
Harry hid a smile and passed her the bucket of soap.  
  
Finally, as it seemed it would never come, it was the day of the Hogsmeade trip. Harry grabbed his moneybag in his trunk and then descended the spiral staircase into the Common Room to meet up with Hermione and Alice.  
  
Alice was bouncing with excitement all around the Common Room, frightening a group of third year girls when she accidentally tripped and knocked one over.  
  
"HARRY!" she shouted spotting Harry from across the room.  
  
Ron came down the spiral staircase and into the Common Room yawning.  
  
"Where's 'Mione?" he asked sleepily.  
  
"Getting read," Alice said half glancing at the door that lead to the girl's dormitories.  
  
"For Hogsmeade?" Ron asked skeptically.  
  
"She gets ready every day Ron," Alice said impatiently. "You wouldn't believe how bushy her hair is when she doesn't spend an hour combing it."  
  
Harry didn't know that Hermione had really cared about her appearance, and judging on the incredulous look on Ron's face, he guessed that Ron hadn't known that either.  
  
Soon Hermione came down the stairs.  
  
"Let's go then, shall we?" she asked nodding towards the portrait hole.  
  
They all made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast and Alice couldn't help but smile widely when she passed Avery and Malfoy in the Entrance Hall.  
  
"Can we do it now?" Alice asked impatiently as everyone began to eat their porridge rather slowly in her opinion.  
  
"No, Alice," Hermione said in exasperation.  
  
Alice looked extremely disappointed but didn't complain and ate her porridge also.  
  
"First we're going to get some dress robes... THEN we can get Avery," Hermione said as they lined up in the Entrance Hall as Professor McGonagall began reading off students names on a very large list.  
  
"But..." Alice started, looking slightly putout.  
  
"It's the only way Alice," Ron explained.  
  
"Fine, but we'd better hurry up in getting those robes," Alice insisted in a child-like manner.  
  
They made their way down the sloping lawn towards the gates and into the town of Hogsmeade. Alice's stubbornness soon vanished as she looked around the town in great interest.  
  
"Wow," she breathed, and Harry remembered that Alice hadn't been in any magical town at all.  
  
"Do you want to look around a bit before we get Avery?" Harry asked, and Alice nodded and led the way into the nearest shop. Fortunately it was Honeydukes and Ron and Harry immediately started to pick out all sorts of crazy candy, including some brand-new tester candies that were called "Salsa Beetles".  
  
But soon they were in a robe shop and this was Hermione and Alice's time to shine. They picked out at least a dozen robes for Harry to try on, each black or green or both.  
  
One, to Harry's great dislike, was black with green stripes, and Ron had smiled and said it looked great on him.  
  
"Oh shut up," Harry said throwing Ron a nasty look. He soon settled on a black one with green trimmings, as they had suggested.  
  
"We'll meet you at the Three Broomsticks," Hermione said, shunting them out of the store.  
  
Harry and Ron, not wanting to stay and watch Alice and Hermione's voice get any higher, shrugged and made their way to the Three Broomsticks and ordered four Butterbeers.  
  
They found a quiet table at the back and waited for Hermione and Alice to get there.  
  
"Hello Harry!" Ginny greeted sliding next to Harry. Harry looked at her and saw Luna Lovegood standing right beside her and he watched her as she took a seat next to Ron.  
  
"Hello," he said passing Ginny and Luna Hermione and Alice's Butterbeers.  
  
Luna gave a faint nod and started sipping on her Butterbeer. Harry looked over at the door, which had just opened, and saw Hermione and Alice come in with parcels. They walked over to their table and sat down, grinning.  
  
"Shall we go then?" Hermione said after a couple of minutes.  
  
"Go where?" Ginny asked immediately.  
  
"None of your business Ginny," Ron said seriously and he, Harry, Alice and Hermione all stood up.  
  
Ginny looked at her brother for a second and then crossed her arms. "I want to come," she said.  
  
"You don't even know what we're doing," Ron said raising an eyebrow. "Besides, you're too y-"  
  
"I'M NOT YOUNG! I'M A YEAR YOUNGER THAN YOU!" Ginny practically shouted, causing many heads to turn in the shop.  
  
"Yes, and that's a year younger than you have to be to come with us," Ron said. Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron.  
  
"Let's just go now okay?" she asked them and they all nodded and left Ginny and Luna sitting at the table by themselves.  
  
"You were just a tad rude in there," Alice said glaring at Ron.  
  
"I don't want her coming along," Ron said stubbornly.  
  
"He's a little too protective of Ginny," Harry whispered to Alice and she nodded.  
  
"Well, it's not like he can protect her forever," Alice said giving Ron another look.  
  
"Oh, believe me. He'll try," Harry smiled.  
  
They searched Hogsmeade and soon found Malfoy, Avery, Crabbe and Goyle all in Zonko's.  
  
"How're we supposed to get Avery by herself?" Hermione asked in a panicked voice.  
  
"Hermione, you and Ron distract Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. Then me and Harry will do the rest," Alice instructed, straightening up and storming into Zonko's looking thoroughly pleased with herself.  
  
Harry followed her, leading Ron and Hermione behind him looking confused.  
  
Harry followed Alice to the back of the store and watched as Avery and Malfoy began to test some of the products.  
  
"Oh, Dungbombs!" Avery squealed. "Put some of these in Riddle's hair..."  
  
Harry held Alice back as she tried to lunge for Avery's back and watched as Ron and Hermione stood facing Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Avery.  
  
"Hey look! It's Mudblood and her poor boyfriend. What were you thinking, Weasley? Bringing Granger in a shop when you have no money... you got all her hopes up," Malfoy laughed. "So how's your Muggle-loving father getting along with the idea of you dating Granger? I bet he's ecstatic! Already planning out your wedding, he is."  
  
"How's your father in Azkaban? I hear he's never coming out," Ron said glaring at Malfoy, every inch of his face red. "And yours Avery... how's he doing working alongside a git like Voldemort? I'm surprised he's not dead yet... Fool."  
  
Avery opened her mouth to speak but Alice muttered "Imperio" and Avery went completely blank.  
  
"You're right Ron," Avery mumbled. "My father is a fool. An ugly fool!"  
  
Malfoy looked at Avery in shock.  
  
"Addyline!" he said confused.  
  
"And your father Draco," Avery said turning to look at Malfoy. "He's even more stupid and ugly. It's a wonder how he got in Voldemort's good books."  
  
Harry looked over at Alice and wasn't surprised to see she was smiling.  
  
"Crabbe, Goyle!" Avery snapped. "Meet us at the Three Broomsticks. Me and Draco have something to discuss."  
  
Crabbe and Goyle looked over at each other but then followed Avery's orders and walked out of Zonko's.  
  
"Come with me Malfoy," Avery snapped, turning on her heel and out into the Hogsmeade road.  
  
Ron and Hermione walked over to Alice and Harry after they had left Zonko's.  
  
"Let's follow them," Ron said, reading the look on Alice's face.  
  
They got up and followed Malfoy and Avery, Alice laughing every time she made Avery suddenly hit herself.  
  
"Addyline..." Malfoy said nervously.  
  
"Shutup Draco, we're almost there," Avery said harshly. They reached the end of the road and found themselves by themselves. Alice made Avery take out her wand and mutter "Filus Coutrez".  
  
Draco went blank and was looking at Avery with a faraway look in his eyes.  
  
"You don't want to kill," Alice made Avery say and Malfoy nodded. "You also hate me," Alice added. Malfoy nodded again.  
  
"Alice! You can't make Malfoy hate Avery! Everyone will know something's up!" Hermione cried.  
  
"You also think that Crabbe looks good in a dress," Avery said. Alice smiled wider and then made Avery pick her nose.  
  
"Sorry, just had to," Alice said. She made Avery say the counter curse and then watched as Malfoy looked horrified at Avery. He turned around and saw the four of them.  
  
Alice had obviously lifted the Imperius curse because Avery looked at them all too.  
  
"What-" Malfoy started but Hermione and Alice had lifted their wands.  
  
"Obliviate!" they screamed at both of them. Then Alice grabbed Harry's robes and made them run all the way back up to the village and back to Hogwarts. 


End file.
